The No. 6-ranked Emory volleyball team saw a six-match win streak come to an end Friday evening as it came up short against No. 13 Juniata College in its opening match at the East-West Challenge on the campus of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Juniata raised its record to 5-3 after rallying for hotly-contested 3-2 decision (25-21, 16-25, 25-27, 27-25, 15-12) over the Eagles who slipped to 7-2.
Emory had a trio of double-figure terminators, led by junior Morgan McKnight's 13 kills, her fourth outing this season with 10 or more. The senior tandem of Sydney Leimbach and Karissa Dzurik each pounded out a dozen successful attack attempts with Leimbach posting a hitting mark of .257 (12-3—35). In addition, Leimbach topped all players with a career-high 11 total blocks (0-11), helping Emory to a 20-12 edge in that category. Senior setter Mady Arles dished out 44 assists and came through with 10 (1-9) blocks on the evening. Juniata became the first opponent to outhit Emory this year, registering an effort of .155 (69-41—181) compared to the Eagles' .129 (53-31—170). JC also held a 78-60 margin in digs with junior Elyse Thompson leading Emory in that department with 22.
After coming out on the short in the first set of the match, Emory employed a stellar defensive effort to claim the next two games, limiting Juniata to a combined hitting percentage of .101 (27-19—79), while countering a .226 mark (26-9—75). In the third set, Emory faced an 18-14 deficit before rattling off seven unanswered points, two coming courtesy of Leimbach and Arles block assists and kills by Dzurik, Leimbach and Arles, in racing to a 21-18 advantage. However, JC regrouped to go on a 4-0 run of its own to re-take the lead at 22-21. Kills by Arles and Leimbach highlighted a 3-0 spurt that put Emory one point from claiming the set, but Juniata clawed back with three straight points to put it ahead, 25-24. The Eagles did close out the set by accounting for the final three points, with Leimbach, sophomore Finn Wilkins and McKnight picking up kills.
Holding an 11-9 edge in the fourth set, Emory went of a 5-0 spree, capped by blocks assist by Leimbach and Dzurik, to bolt to a 16-9 advantage. After Junita narrowed the score to 17-13, four straight Emory points gave it a seemingly comfortable 21-13 cushion. However, Juniata stayed alive with an 8-1 charge to draw it to within one point before a pair of Emory points put it one shy of closing out the night. However, a pair of Juniata terminations combined with two Emory hitting miscues turned the tables and put JC one point from extending the slugfest. A Dzurik kill knotted the score but JC registered the final two points to move into a fifth set.
In the deciding game, Emory used a Leimbach kill, followed by a Juniata hitting error, to post an 11-7 lead. However, JC accounted for eight of the next nine points to come away with the victory, hitting .192 (11-6—26) vs. Emory's .092 (5-4—17) in the fifth game.
Emory was to close out Friday's action with a bout against host and No. 3-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in a 10:30 pm start (EDT).