After closing out regular-season league play this past weekend at the University Athletic Association Round Robin II, the Emory volleyball team ventures to the campus of Juniata College to take part in the Wid Guisler Invitational. The Eagles will play Geneva College on Friday (Oct. 21) in a 5:00 pm scheduled start, before taking on nationally ranked foes Eastern University (2:00 pm) and host Juniata (6:00 pm) on Saturday.
THE COACHES – Emory head coach Jenny McDowell (Georgia, '89) is in her 21st year at the helm of the Eagles' program and owns a school and career mark of 673-151. She has 17 campaigns of 30 or more wins, and has directed the program to 20 consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament. She has steered the Eagles to five berths to the national semifinals and has a national championship to her credit in 2008.
Wendy Smith is in her 17th year as the head coach at Geneva College. Heading into the weekend, she has compiled a school and career record of 307-232.
At the helm of the Eastern University program since 1990 is head coach Mark Birtwistle. Birtwistle sports a school and career won-lost ledger of 646-216 and has guided the program to the NCAA Tournament on 16 occasions, advancing to the Round of 16 nine times.
Now in her sixth year as head coach at Juniata, Heather Pavlik has manufactured a school and career record of 162-41. She has been named the Landmark Conference's Coach of the Year on three occasions, and has guided the Eagles to five NCAA Tournament appearances.
2016 RECORDS – Emory checks in with an overall record of 21-4 and finished the UAA portion of the regular season with a 6-1 slate, which will give them the No. 2 seed at the upcoming conference championships (Nov. 4-5). The Eagles won three of four contests at the Round Robin II last weekend, starting with a 3-1 decision over No. 19 Carnegie Mellon, followed by a 3-1 setback to Chicago that snapped a 15-match win streak. On the final day of action, Emory rolled to a 3-0 whitewash of Brandeis before coming away with a 3-1 triumph vs. No. 16 Washington University.
Emory is ranked No. 7 in this week's AVCA Top 25 Poll.
A member of the Presidents' Athletic Conference, Geneva College will meet Emory with an overall record of 18-6. The Golden Tornadoes have won 17 of their last 18 matches that includes outcomes over Washington and Jefferson (3-0 on Oct. 13) and Westminster (3-2 on Oct. 15).
Eastern, ranked 15th in the AVCA Poll, defeated King's College (Pa.) on Tuesday evening to boost its overall record to 21-4.
Juniata holds down the No. 10 slot in the AVCA Poll and welcomes this weekend's visitors with an overall record of 18-5. The Eagles are riding a 10-match win streak that includes 3-0 victories over Goucher and Catholic last Saturday.
SERIES RECORDS – Friday's match-up between Emory and Geneva will represent the first-ever meeting in volleyball between the two schools.
Emory has won all six of its meetings vs. Eastern. The last time the schools faced off came in 2014 at the Elmhurst Invitational with Emory posting a 3-0 triumph.
The series between Emory and Juniata stands tied at nine wins apiece. Emory won the last battle, a 3-0 decision last October at the Woodruff PE Center.
EMORY CAPTAINS – Serving as the captains for the 2016 Emory volleyball team will be seniors Jessica Holler (Roswell, GA), Sarah Maher (Orange, CA) and Kathryn Trinka (North Bay Village, FL), along with junior Hannah Billings (Shawnee, KS).
HOLLER ON THE UAA LADDER – Jessica Holler finds herself among the UAA's top 10 performers in several statistical categories. Through matches played Oct. 16, Holler continues to pace the league in hitting percentage (.402) while standing fourth on kills (3.16 kps) and third in blocks (0.93 bps).
Holler has recorded double-figure kills in 16 contests this year, including a team-high 15 in last Sunday's win over Washington University, tying her second-highest total of the campaign.
Career-wise, her 1,198 kills ranks 12th all-time at Emory while her 455 total blocks ranks second.
EMORY AMONG UAA LEADERS IN STAT CATEGORIES – Through matches played Oct. 16 Emory leads the UAA with a .262 attack percentage while also claiming the top spot in opponent hitting percentage (.109). The Eagles have enjoyed an edge in hitting percentage in 17 of their last 18 and in a total of 21 matches.
In addition, Emory is averaging league-bests in kills (13.57 kps) and assists (12.38 aps). It is No. 3 in blocks average (1.76 bps).
NUMBERS TO NOTE – Sophomore Sydney Leimbach recorded a personal-best 15 kills in the four-set battle against Chicago, her fourth double-figure effort of the season, and her .609 attack percentage was her second-best showing … Leimbach hit a team-high .492 (32-3—59) at the UAA RR II and was second on the team's scoresheet with an average of 0.73 blocks per set … Sarah Maher registered a pair of double-doubles at the UAA RR II, upping her season total to four, including an 11-kills, career-high 24 digs effort vs. Washington University … On the year, Maher is hitting .266, good for 11th place among UAA players, and averaging 2.71 digs per set which ranks 17th on the league ladder .. Freshman Morgan McKnight pounded out a season-high 14 terminations in the Wash U contest … Freshman Sarah Porter doled out a season-high 46 assists in the Chicago contest and tied that mark against Wash U … Emory recorded 11 service aces in the Carnegie Mellon match, the fourth time this year it reached double figures in that department … Sophomore Becky Breuer stands 10th in the league in digs average (3.33 dps) … Breuer rang up a season-high 27 digs against Carnegie Mellon, her third-highest career and the squad's second-highest mark of the year … Emory has held five opponents to a minus hitting percentage this year … The Eagles' league-high .262 hitting percentage stood sixth in the D-III ranks at the start of the week.
EMORY ENJOYS THE HOME COURT -- Emory has been dominant on its home floor, fashioning a 350-53 (.868) won-lost ledger since the 1992 campaign … Since the 2008 season, Emory stands 126-10 (.926) in contests played at the Woodruff PE Center … The Eagles are 9-1 this year at the Woodruff PE Center.
NEW FACES ON THE EMORY ROSTER – Nine talented freshmen comprise this year's 22-player roster with those rookies being: Sarah Porter (Atlanta), Morgan McKnight (Manassas, VA), Katie Kane (Windermere, FL), Elyse Thompson (Tallahassee, FL), Andie McKinnon (Durham, NC), Savannah Bush (Las Cruces, NM), Sylvie Rosenwald (Rockville, MD), Lauren Simons (Great Falls, VA) and Sara Carr (Birmingham, AL).