UAA Championships Website
The No. 6-ranked Emory volleyball team begins the 'second season' of its schedule this Friday and Saturday (Nov. 2-3) when it will serve as the host for the University Athletic Association Championships. All matches will be played at the Woodruff PE Center on the Emory campus.
The Eagles of head coach Jenny McDowell, 29-5 overall, enter the Championships as the No. 1 seed through a series of tie-breakers with Chicago and Washington University, all of whom finished with a 6-1 league mark during the regular season. Emory's opening-round foe was to have been No. 8-seeded New York University, however the after-effects from the recent storm that devastated parts of the nation's Northeast Region has forced the Violets to abandon participation from this year's tourney. Emory's first match of the Championships will come at 4:00 pm in the semifinal round against the winner of No. 4-seed Case Western vs. No.5-seed Carnegie Mellon matchup. The championship tilt is slated for a 1:00 p.m. start on Saturday.
Emory heads into the UAA Championships with wins in seven of its last eight outings with the team's victory total just one shy of the sixth straight and 15th campaign of 30 or more triumphs. The Eagles are coming off a 2-1 record at the Emory National Invitational last weekend, dropping a 3-1 verdict to No. 3-ranked Wittenberg before posting 3-1 and 3-0 outcomes against Washington and Lee and UMASS-Boston, respectively.
At the start of the week, the Eagles post a team attack percentage of .245, good for the No. 2 spot in the loop and 19th nationally. Leading the team in that department is senior Breanah Bourque with a .387 hitting mark that leads all UAA performers and stands 11th on the national front. The 5-foot-11 middle has produced 13 contests of a .400 or higher hitting percentage while banging out double-figure kills totals on 25 occasions. Bourque is also pounding out 3.53 terminations per set with that mark tops on the team and fourth among league performers. Bourque, whose 423 kills ranks 13th on the school's seasonal list, also finds herself among the league leaders in blocks with a 0.86 blocks-per-set mark. Classmate Alex Duhl holds down the No. 5 position on the UAA chart in hitting percentage (.301) and is seventh in blocks (0.72 bps). Freshman setter Sydney Miles directs the Emory offense to the tune of 10.52 assists per set, second in the conference and 15th nationally.
Emory has won two of the last three and four UAA championships over the last seven years. The Eagles notched their first title in 2005 and then brought home their second crown in 2007. In 2009, Emory topped then No. 3-ranked Washington University in the title match, and defended the crown in 2010 with a 3-1 decision over the No. 1-ranked Wash U squad. Last season, the Bears wrestled the crown away from Emory, rallying from a 0-2 deficit to earn a five-set victory. Emory and Wash U are no strangers to each other at the UAAs, with the Eagles and Bears meeting in the championship affair for the last eight consecutive seasons.
The Spartans of Case Western, 23-9 overall (4-3 UAA), are riding a five-match win streak into this weekend. Carnegie Mellon stands 14-16 overall (2-5 UAA).