FMU travels up I-95 for PBC Volleyball Tournament

Francis Marion University has earned the second seed and a first-round bye for this weekend's 18th-annual Peach Belt Conference Volleyball Tournament.  The six-team, single-elimination tournament will be held Saturday and Sunday (Nov. 15-16) in the English E. Jones Center on the campus of UNC Pembroke.

Admission to the tournament is by session: $7 for adults and $5 for students/children.  Live stats for all matches will be available through http://upload.athleticsite.com/uncpbraves/livestats/vb/xlive.htm

The tournament begins on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. with third-seeded Lander University (22-10 record) playing sixth-seeded UNCP (12-18).  Fourth-seeded USC Aiken (15-14) and fifth-seeded Augusta State University (14-20) square off at 1 p.m., followed by the two semifinal matches at 5 and 7 p.m. 

Francis Marion (22-7) will face the Lander/UNCP winner in the first semifinal, while top-seeded Armstrong Atlantic State University (23-6) will play the USCA/ASU winner in the second semifinal match.  The championship match is set for Sunday at 2 p.m.

En route to compiling the second-highest winning percentage for a Patriot squad in the past 10 seasons, Francis Marion has won 16 of its last 19 matches.  During the PBC regular-season, FMU split two matches with Lander and swept the series with UNCP.

Senior middleblocker Jessica Lombardi leads FMU in kills (2.96 per game) and hitting percentage (.275).  She is 13th all-time in PBC history with 1,258 kills.  Senior setter Jenna Kaiser is second in the Peach Belt with 9.94 assists per game, and stands ninth on the PBC career list for assists (3,876). 

At the other end of the spectrum, freshmen have accounted for 52.7 percent of the team's kills, with four first-year players in the Patriots' regular rotation.

Francis Marion owns an all-time record of 20-18 in PBC Tournament competition, including winning the 1997, 1998, and 2005 tournament titles.

The winner of the PBC tournament earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II national tournament.

2008 Peach Belt Tournament

Hosted by UNC Pembroke

Saturday, Nov. 15

#3 Lander vs. #6 UNC Pembroke       11 am

#4 USC Aiken vs. #5 Augusta State   1:00

3-6 Winner vs. #2 Francis Marion       5:00

4-5 Winner vs. #1 Armstrong Atlantic 7:00

Sunday, Nov. 16

Championship Game                           2:00