INVITATIONALFACTS – The No. 6-ranked Eagles get back into action this Friday and Saturday (Nov. 1-2) when they host the Emory National Invitational. Other teams competing include SUNY-Cortland, Berry College, Juniata College and Trinity University. A schedule of the games is as follows:
Friday, Nov. 1
2:30 pm – Cortland vs. Trinity
5:00 pm – Emory vs. Cortland
5:00 pm – Trinity vs. Berry
7:30 pm – Emory vs. Juniata
Saturday, Nov. 2
10:30 am – Cortland vs. Berry
1:00 pm – Emory vs. Berry
1:00 pm – Trinity vs. Juniata
3:30 pm – Emory vs. Trinity
3:30 pm – Cortland vs. Juniata
Friday evening will see Senior Night festivities conducted with the Emory program recognizing the contributions of four-year veteran Sarah Taub.
THE COACHES – Emory head coach Jenny McDowell (Georgia, '89) is in her 18th year at the helm of the Eagles' program. During her stint at Emory, she has compiled a school and career record of 569-137. She has 14 campaigns of 30 or more wins, and has directed the program to 17 consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament. She has steered the Eagles to three berths to the national semifinals and has a national championship to her credit in 2008.
Pam Hoerup (Cortland, '90) is in her ninth year as the head coach at SUNY-Cortland. Heading into this weekend's action, Hoerup has compiled a school mark of 273-88 that includes six trips to the NCAA Tournament and six 30-win seasons.
The 2013 campaign represents Heather Pavlik's (Juniata, '95) second season as head coach at Juniata. Thus far in her young head coaching career, she has compiled a won-lost ledger of 53-11. In 2012, Pavlik guided the Eagles to a 27-8 mark that included the school's 31st straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Mika Robinson (Harvard, '96) is in her sixth year in calling the shots at Berry. Robinson checks into the Invitational with a school and career slate of 123-62.
One of the most respected coaches in college volleyball, Julie Jenkins (William & Mary, '81) has compiled an impressive 29-year career record of 789-370 (766-344 at Trinity). While at TU, she has directed the Tigers to 19 trips to the NCAA Tournament.
2013 RECORDS – Emory sports an overall record of 24-3. This weekend's Invitational marks the Eagles' first action since Oct. 19-20 when they posted a 2-2 mark at the University Athletic Association Round Robin II in St. Louis. Emory holds down the No. 6 position in this week's AVCA Top 25 Poll.
SUNY-Cortland brings an overall record of 14-17 into this weekend's action. The Red Dragons are coming off a 1-2 effort at the SUNYAC Conference Play #3 last Friday and Saturday, defeating Brockport State, 3-0, while falling short against New Paltz, 1-3, and Buffalo State, 0-3.
Juniata, ranked No. 9 in this week's AVCA Poll, has captured its last six outings and owns an overall won-lost slate of 26-3. The Eagles hosted and won the Wid Guisler Invitational last weekend, defeating Johns Hopkins (3-0), DeSales (3-0) and Carnegie Mellon (3-1).
Berry College is also riding a six-match win streak into the Invitational that has boosted its overall record to 21-5. On Sunday, the Vikings topped Birmingham Southern, 3-1, allowing them to claim their second straight Southern Athletic Association regular-season championship.
Trinity comes to town with an overall record of 29-4 and a No. 15 national ranking. The Tigers went 4-0 at last weekend's Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Cross Divisional, defeating Centenary, Austin and UT-Dallas all by 3-0 counts and Colorado College, 3-1. TU has won its last eight and 19 of its last 20 matches.
SERIES RECORDS – Cortland and Emory have met on just one occasion with the Red Dragons winning that contest in 1998 by a 3-0 score.
Juniata holds a 9-7 edge in the all-time series with Emory, though Emory has captured the last five matches including a 3-0 triumph last season on JC's home court.
The Eagles stand 8-0 all-time against Berry. The schools met last year in Atlanta where Emory prevailed by a 3-1 verdict.
Emory checks in with a slim 12-10 margin in the all-time series against Trinity. The two schools met earlier this year at the Randolph-Macon Invitational where the Eagles came away with a 3-1 decision.
TRIO SERVES AS EMORY CAPTAINS – Serving as the captains for the 2013 Emory volleyball team will be senior Sarah Taub (Boulder, CO), and juniors Cat McGrath (St. Louis, MO) and Kate Bowman (Corpus Christi, TX).
BOWMAN PACES SQUAD IN DOUBLE-DOUBLES – Junior Kate Bowman's 14-kill, 19-dig outing against Chicago at the UAA Round Robin II represented her team-leading eighth double-double (kills/digs) of the season. The 5-foot-10 Bowman is no stranger to that category with a total of 21 double-doubles during her career.
Bowman has moved into the team lead and ranks eighth among UAA performers in kills (2.84 kps), and has recorded 11 matches with 10 or more terminations. Bowman also ranks second on the squad and 12th on the league ladder with a 2.72 digs-per-set average. She has racked up 12 matches of double-figure digs this season.
EMORY 2013 HONORS – So far this year, Emory players have racked up a variety of honors which are noted below
UAA PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Jessica Holler – Sept. 23
Syndey Miles – Sept. 17
Sydney Miles – Sept. 3
EMORY TOURNAMENT ALL-TOURNAMENT (SEPT. 27-28)
Sydney Miles (MVP)
Jessica Holler
Taylor Erwin
EMORY INVITATIONAL ALL-TOURNAMENT (SEPT. 20-21)
Kate Bowman – MVP
Leah Jacobs
Sydney Miles
EMORY CLASSIC ALL-TOURNAMENT (SEPT. 13-14)
Syndey Miles
Cat McGrath
RANDOLPH-MACON INVITATIONAL ALL-TOURNAMENT (SEPT. 6-7)
Jessica Holler
Sydney Miles
WITTENBERG INVITATIONAL ALL-TOURNAMENT (Aug. 30- Aug. 31)
Sydney Miles
Taylor Erwin
ERWIN ANCHORS STRONG EMORY DEFENSE -- Sophomore libero Taylor Erwin, a honorable-mention selection on both conference and region teams a year ago, has been a lynchpin of a strong Emory defense with her team-high 4.35 digs-per-set average placing her fifth among the UAA leaders. The 5-foot-10 Erwin has totaled 20 or more digs on eight occasions this year including a pair of 28-dig efforts against Southwestern (Sept. 14) Randolph-Macon (Sept. 7), tying her third-highest total and good for 12th place on the Eagles' single-match list. Her play has helped the Eagles limit their opponents to just a .114 hitting percentage, good for first place among UAA teams.
Career-wise, Erwin has registered 22 matches of 20 or more digs and her total of 1,075 ranks 6th on the school's all-time chart, just six shy of moving into the No. 5 position and 100 from moving into the No. 4 slot.
During the opening weekend of action, Erwin was named to the Courtyard Marriott Invitational All-Tournament Team after averaging 5.42 digs per set in helping the Eagles to a 3-0 record. One of her outings at the Invitational was a 27-digs effort in a 3-2 win over then No. 1 St. Thomas.
EMORY ENJOYS SUCCESS ON HOME FLOOR – The Eagles have enjoyed considerable success over the years playing at the Woodruff PE Center compiling a home won-lost slate of 309-50 (.859) since 1992.
More recently, Emory has been dominant at the Woodpec, compiling an 86-7 record at home since the 2008 campaign. Last year, the Eagles finished 13-2 on their home court with the losses coming to NAIA power Lee University (Sept. 25) and Wittenberg (Oct. 26).
EMORY FRESHMAN CLASS LIVING UP TO ITS BILLING – Emory's eight-member freshman class, afforded Highest Honorable Mention acclaim nationally in the preseason by Prepvolleyball.com, has lived up to its billing with the group playing a major role in the team's success thus far.
A quick check at the stats, shows that the rookies have accounted for 436 of the squad's 1,310 kills (33.2%) and 102.5 of the 211.5 blocks (48.4%). Jessica Holler (Roswell, GA) has been a key cog in the freshman class impact, with her 2.52 kills per set average good for third on the club and 12th on the UAA ladder, while her 1.14 blocks per set ranks first in the conference and 18th nationally.
McGRATH AN OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE FORCE – Cat McGrath has given the Eagles solid two-way this year with the 6-foot-2 middle pacing the UAA and ranking 17th nationally in hitting percentage (.377) and third in the UAA in blocks (0.88 bps).
McGrath played in all 15 of the team's sets at the UAA Round Robin II and led the squad in blocks (1.13 bps) while hitting .356 (28-7—59). She came up with a team-high five blocks (2-3) vs. Brandeis and followed that with a match-high tying six blocks (0-6) against Washington University. So far this year, McGrath has either led or shared for team blocking honors in 10 matches.
NOTES – Freshman Catalina Jimenez's 13 digs in the Washington University match at the UAA Round Robin II marked her third double-figure performance in that category this season … Entering the Emory Invitational, Sydney Miles ranks seventh all-time on Emory's career ladder with 2,315 assists … Miles is averaging a league-high 9.89 assists per set with that mark good for 30th nationally … In addition, Miles is seventh in the league with a .312 attack percentage (121-30—202) The Eagles rank first in the UAA and 8th nationally among D-III programs in hitting percentage (.267) … Emory has finished with a higher attack percentage than the opposition in 24 of 27 matches this year … Jessica Holler has hit .360 or better in nine of her last 10 matches … Holler saw an eight-game streak of hitting .360 or better come to an end in the Brandeis match at the UAA Round Robin II, but bounced back with a .370 mark (14-4—27) vs. Wash U … Holler posted an eight-game streak of four or more total blocks that was snapped in the Brandeis contest, before getting back on track with six (1-5) vs. Wash U … Emory's 3-2 victory over St. Thomas (Sept. 6) raised the program's record to 8-9 in matches against No. 1-ranked teams … Emory stands second in the UAA and No. 15 nationally in kills per set (13.37 kps).