The No. 4-ranked Emory volleyball team split a pair of contests on the opening day of action at the University Athletic Association Round Robin II in Chicago.  In the opening match, No. 20 Washington University rallied for a 3-2 victory (25-18, 16-25, 19-25, 25-21, 15-11) over the Eagles before Emory bounced back to notch a 3-0 outcome (25-23, 25-14, 25-15) over Case Western Reserve.  The Eagles stand 18-4 in overall play, 3-2 in the conference.

With junior Sydney Leimbach and freshman Maggie Rimmel sidelined with injuries, sophomore Sara Carr came through with a huge performance against the Bears of WU, leading all players with a career-high 20 kills to go along with a match-leading 20 digs, with that total her second-highest mark. Carr hit .409 (20-2—44) with her terminations total the high-water mark by an Emory player this year.  Freshman Leah Saunders was the other Emory player to post double figures in kills, putting away 11 successful attack opportunities. Sophomore Sarah Porter and junior Mady Arles registered 23 and 20 assists, respectively, with each player also totaling three service aces.  As a team, Emory racked up 14 aces, the fifth time this year it reached the double-figure mark in that category.  Wash U hit .241 (53-20—137) to Emory's .209 (52-21—146) and finished with a slight 61-59 edge in digs.

The Eagles' offense wasted little time in the Case Western affair, hitting .359 (16-2—39) in the opening set and closing out the match with a .328 (51-10—125) performance compared to the Spartans' .122 (31-17—115).  Sophomore Morgan McKnight turned in some impressive numbers, topping all players with a career-high 16 kills and hitting a keen .484 (16-1—31). McKnight's showing was her 12^th contest this season with 10 or more successful swings.  Both Carr and Saunders both rang up a dozen kills with Saunders hitting .571 (12-0—21) and Carr leading the defensive effort with 14 digs. Arles finished with 23 assists, eight digs and a pair of aces.  Emory chalked up 60 digs to CWRU's 55 and posted a 6-2 advantage in total blocks.

Emory winds up the Round Robin II on Sunday with matches against New York University (11:00 am EDT) and No. 10-ranked Carnegie Mellon (3:00 pm EDT).