The Emory volleyball team will close out the regular-season portion of its schedule this Friday and Saturday (Oct. 28-29) when it hosts its National Invitational Tournament. A list of the matches is as follows.
Friday, Oct. 28
12:00 pm -- Clarkson vs. Randolph-Macon (Ct. 1)
12:00 pm -- Susquehanna vs. Berry (Ct. 2)
2:00 pm -- Washington & Lee vs. Berry (Ct. 2)
4:00 pm -- Emory vs. Randolph-Macon (Ct. 1)
4:00 pm -- Susquehanna vs. Washington & Lee (Ct. 2)
6:30 pm -- Emory vs. Clarkson (Ct. 1)
Saturday, Oct. 29
11:00 am -- Susquehanna vs. Randolph-Macon (Ct. 1)
11:00 am -- Clarkson vs. Washington & Lee (Ct. 2)
1:00 pm -- Emory vs. Washington & Lee (Ct. 1)
1:00 pm -- Randolph-Macon vs. Berry (Ct. 2)
3:00 pm -- Emory vs. Berry (Ct. 1)
3:00 pm -- Clarkson vs. Susquehanna (Ct. 2)
Before Friday evening's match vs. Clarkson, Emory will conduct its annual Senior Night festivities with the program recognizing the contributions of Jessica Holler, Sarah Maher and Kathryn Trinka.
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 675-152. 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.
Bill Rogers is in his 15th year as the head coach at Randolph-Macon College. Heading into the weekend, he has compiled a school and career record of 344-133. He has been named the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Coach of the Year on five occasions.
In her second stint at the helm of the Clarkson University program is Carol LaMarche (Syracuse, '02). LaMarche coached the Golden Knights in 2005 (20-14), before serving as an assistant coach at Syracuse (2006-10) and the head coach at SUNY Canton for five years where she manufactured a record of 130-47.
Now in his 17th season year as head coach at Washington and Lee, Bryan Snyder (Washington & Lee, '95) has registered a school slate of 460-135. He has guided the Generals to 12 NCAA Tournament appearances. In 19 years as a head coach, which includes a two-year run at St. Mary's (MD), Snyder has a career mark of 501-160.
Caitlyn Moriarty (Christopher Newport, '11) is in her initial season as the head coach at Berry College. Named to her current post in February, Moriarty had served on the Vikings' staff for four years.
2016 RECORDS – Emory checks in with an overall record of 23-5 after winning two of three matches at the Wid Guisler Invitational last weekend. The Eagles opened with a 3-0 triumph over Geneva College before splitting a pair of outings on Saturday, dropping a 3-2 verdict to No. 15 Eastern before regrouping to top No. 10 and host Juniata, 3-1.
Emory, ranked No. 8 in this week's AVCA Top 25 Poll, sports a 9-1 record in home matches this year.
Randolph-Macon will meet Emory with an overall record of 19-4. The Yellow Jackets, ranked No. 2 in the South Region in last week's poll, have won their last 11 matches. RMC captured the ODAC regular-season title with an 11-0 effort.
Clarkson, a member of the Liberty League, comes to town with an overall effort of 19-10. The Golden Knights split four matches last weekend, defeating both Bard and Skidmore by 3-0 counts, before coming out on the short end of 3-2 verdicts to Union and Vassar. CU was ranked third in the New York Region
Washington and Lee begins the weekend with an overall record of 21-6. The Generals have been successful in five of the last six matches and are coming off a 3-0 win over Hollins on Tuesday.
A four-match win streak has boosted Berry's overall record to 18-8. The Vikings closed out Southern Athletic Association play last weekend with wins over Millsaps (3-0) and Birmingham Southern (3-1).
SERIES RECORDS – Emory has won all 14 meetings against Randolph-Macon. The teams last met in 2015 at Washington and Lee with the Eagles prevailing, 3-0.
Emory won the initial match-up against Clarkson, which took place last season, 3-0.
Emory stands 25-1 all-time vs. Washington and Lee. The Eagles and Generals last meet in 2015 on the W&L campus with Emory posting a 3-1 vcitory.
Emory has captured all 13 matches it has had with Berry. The two programs met earlier this year (Sept.20), where the Eagles came away with a 3-0 win.
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).
MAHER ADD TO DOUBLE-DOUBLE TOTALS -- Sarah Maher recorded a pair of double doubles at the Wid Guisler Invitational, upping her season total to six, three of which have come in the past four games. Maher finished with 11 terminations, second high on the team, and chipped in 11 digs against Geneva before closing out the weekend with 10 digs and 10 digs in the 3-1 win over No. 10 Juniata.
Maher ranks 18th on the UAA ladder in kills average (2.29 kps) while holding down the No. 12 spot in attack percentage (.264). In addition, she is 16th in digs average (2.80 dps).
HOLLER ON THE UAA LADDER – Jessica Holler finds herself among the UAA's top 10 performers in several statistical categories. Through matches played Oct. 24, Holler continues to pace the league in hitting percentage (.386) while standing third in kills average (3.09 kps) and fourth in blocks (0.92 bps).
Holler, who has recorded double-figure kills in 18 contests this year, owns 60 career outings with 10 or more successful attack attempts, and her four-year total of 1,228 stands 12th on the school's all-time ladder. Entering the weekend, she is 32 terminations shy of tying Katrina Damasco's (2002-05) 11th-place mark of 1,260.
EMORY AMONG UAA LEADERS IN STAT CATEGORIES – Through matches played Oct. 24, Emory leads the UAA with a .261 attack percentage while also claiming the top spot in opponent hitting percentage (.113). The Eagles have enjoyed an edge in hitting percentage in 20 of their last 21 and in a total of 24 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 (1.81 bps).
NUMBERS TO NOTE – Sophomore Sydney Leimbach tied her career high with 15 kills in the Juniata win, concluding that contest hitting a blazing .542 (15-2—24) … Leimbach, who has six matches of double-figure kills, is second in the league (behind Holler) with a .360 hitting percentage and stands ninth in blocks average (0.75 bps) … Sarah Maher stands 14th on the school's all-time chart with 1,070 kills … Sophomore Becky Breuer led all players in the Juniata match with 24 digs, her third contest of 20 or more this year … Breuer in ninth in the UAA with a 3.78 digs-per-set average … Kathryn Trinka will start the weekend with 931 career kills, just 10 shy from moving into the program's all-time top 20 … Freshman Morgan McKnight totaled 12 kills in the Eastern match, her third double-figure effort of the season … Sophomore Mady Arles (Richmond, VA) dished out a career-best 21 assists in the Juniata contest … Emory has four matches of 10 or more service aces this season … Emory has held five opponents to a minus hitting percentage this year … The Eagles' league-high .261 hitting percentage stood seventh 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.