GREENWOOD – The Lander volleyball team traded sets with Augusta and closed strong in the fifth to earn a 3-2 victory over the Jaguars in a Peach Belt Conference match on Friday night in Finis Horne Arena.

Lander (14-6, 3-1 PBC) earned its third win in four tries against the Jaguars (16-5, 1-1 PBC) with the 25-10, 21-25, 25-20, 24-26, 15-10 victory. 

"We worked all week on pressure situations," said head coach Ashley White. "We were in that exact same situation yesterday in practice. Our girls bought in and did exactly what we worked on. It was so much fun."

The Bearcats stormed out of the gate to build an 8-1 lead and never looked back en route to a first-set win. After the Jaguars took the second set to tie the match, Lander erased a 10-9 deficit with a 6-0 run in set three and kept the Jaguars from ever pulling even, punctuating the set with an ace from Kyra Ross. 

Augusta once again fought back, breaking a 24-24 tie in the fourth set with consecutive points to force a fifth set. In the decisive set, Lander jumped out early with kills from Ross, Maya Walker, Alexa Barral, and Deona Mims to take a 4-1 lead. The Bearcats led by eight after a Ross kill made the score 12-4 and withstood a final rally from Augusta before Madilyn Reed's kill sealed the 15-10 win and the match. 

Ross finished with a team-high 24 kills and added 19 digs, while Reed notched 50 assists and 15 digs. Mims ended the night with 15 kills. Boo Luther led the Bearcats with 21 digs, followed by 20 from Hannah McManus. Walker tallied 5.0 of Lander's 13.0 total blocks. 

Lander continues PBC play with a home match on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. against Georgia College. 

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