The No. 8-ranked Emory volleyball team continued its winning ways Thursday evening, notching a sweep at Agnes Scott College. The Eagles won for the fifth straight and eighth time in their last nine outings with a 25-17, 25-16, 25-14, outcome over the Scotties, boosting their overall record to 18-5.
With head coach Jenny McDowell freely using her bench, Emory closed out the night hitting .210 (49-24—119) compared to ASC's mark of -.021 (14-16—94), the 18th time this year it enjoyed an advantage in that category. The Eagles forged a decided 62-38 cushion in digs while both squads chalked up eight total blocks.
Junior Morgan McKnight led the Emory offensive attack with 14 terminations, 13 coming over the final two sets of play, and added six digs and three total blocks to the cause, while Carly Saitman totaled a career-high tying 10 successful attack attempts en route to registering a .318 hitting (10-3—22) effort. Freshman Tara Martin was the team's most efficient offensive performer with .545 attack percentage on the strength of seven kills with just one miscue in 11 swings. Sophomore Maggie Rimmel chipped in five kills while freshmen Charlese Blair and Kaia Johnson each finished with four. Freshman Claire Yohann, seeing her most extensive action of the year, dished out 43 assists and contributed five digs.
The Eagles used big runs in all three sets in upping their road/neutral record to 11-4 on the year. In the first game, a 9-1 spurt stretched a one-point lead into a comfortable 24-15 edge. Holding a 10-9 advantage in the second set, two kills each by Rimmel and McKnight keyed a 10-3 burst that pushed Emory to a 20-12 margin. In the final game, a 10-2 barrage that saw McKnight and Saitman ring up four and three kills, respectively, blew open what had been a 6-6 tie.
The Eagles are off until Oct. 26-27 when they host the Emory National Invitational.