Emory University head volleyball coach Jenny McDowell earned her 600th career win Sunday afternoon as the Eagles staged a dramatic rally over Carnegie Mellon in its final match of the University Athletic Association Round Robin I. McDowell picked up the milestone in dramatic fashion with Emory coming away with a come-from-behind 3-2 verdict over the Tartans (25-27, 19-25, 25-18, 25-16, 15-4), raising its overall record to 21-2, 3-0 in the UAA.
After seeing the visitors from CMU hit .301 over the first two sets (25-6—63), Emory's defense rose to the occasion and limited the Tartans to an attack percentage of just .096 (22-14—83) over the final three games including -.211 in the decisive fifth set. Conversely, the Eagles got their league-leading offense rolling over the final three sets, hitting .329 (39-12—82) in that stretch en route to registering a final effort of .252
(68-30—151).
Senior Leah Jacobs paced three double-digit terminators for the Eagles with a match-high 23 kills, her fifth outing of the season with 20 or more successful attack attempts and tying her second-highest career total. Jacobs hit .364 (23-7—44) and added two service aces and a pair of block assists in helping Emory boost its home winning streak to 25 matches. Sophomore Kathryn Trinka picked an opportune time to chalk up a personal-best 15 kills en route to a .290 hitting mark (15-6—31) while classmate Sarah Maher rounded out the trio with 13 kills, three coming in the fifth set. Junior setter Sydney Miles dished out 53 assists and chipped in four of the club's season-high 12 service aces along with 14 digs. Senior Kate Bowman topped all players with 22 digs, helping the Eagles to a 68-51 cushion in that department. The Tartans did finish with a 11-6 advantage in total blocks.
Emory returns to action on Wednesday evening (Oct. 8) when it plays at Lee University.
NOTES – Emory is 3-1 in five set-matches this year … Today's decision over Carnegie Mellon is the first time since Sept. 15, 2012 (vs. Trinity) that the Eagles have rallied from an 0-2 deficit and battled back to win.