The No. 6-ranked Emory volleyball team closed out a successful weekend with a pair of regional victories on Saturday at its National Invitational Tournament.  The Eagles opened with a 3-1 decision (25-11, 25-17, 24-26, 25-18) over Berry College before coming away with a 3-2 verdict (17-25, 25-20, 25-18, 29-31, 15-12) over No. 15 Trinity University.  The two wins upped Emory's overall record to 28-3.

Emory hit .268 (57-17—149) against Berry while the Vikings countered with an effort of .120 (47-28—158).  The Eagles finished with a 68-61 advantage in digs and a 9-0 margin in blocks.  Emory had a trio of players record double figures in kills led by junior Kate Bowman (Corpus Christi, TX) who topped all players with 14 terminations, while registering a .323 (14-4—31) hitting percentage.  Cat McGrath (St. Louis, MO) racked up 11 successful attack attempts and tied for match honors with five blocks (3-2).  Junior Leah Jacobs rounded out the group with 10 kills. Junior Sydney Miles (Oklahoma City, OK) doled out 38 assists and added seven terminations in the contest while sophomore Taylor Erwin (Woodlands Park, TX) produced a match-leading 21 digs.

In a contest that had the feeling of a postseason affair, Emory and Trinity waged a slugfest that stretched almost two hours and thirty minutes.  By the time the smoked had cleared, the teams had combined for 398 attack attempts, 156 kills and 175 digs.  The Tigers enjoyed advantages in both hitting percentage (.298 vs. 281) and digs (88 vs. 87), but Emory found a way to come away with the win, thanks in part to a strong fifth-set that saw it post a .321 hitting percentage (11-2—28) compared to TU's .185 (8-3—27).  Jacobs turned in a huge performance with a career-high 22 kills (the highest total by an Emory player this season) and compiling a .309 hitting percentage (22-5-55).  Bowman responded with a career-high 20 terminations and hit .429 (20-2—42). In addition, she chipped in 13 digs for her 10^th double-double of the year.  McGrath made the most of her hitting opportunities, blasting out 15 kills en route to an attack percentage of .452 (15-1—31).  Miles doled out a career-high 66 assists, the sixth-highest match mark in school history and chalked up 14 digs.  Leading all players in digs was Erwin with 25, her third straight outing of 20 or more.

Emory returns to action next Friday and Saturday (Nov. 8-9) when it travels to Waltham, Mass., to compete in the University Athletic Association Championships.  The Eagles' opening match will be against Case Western on Friday starting at 2:00 p.m.

Emory National Invitational All-Tournament Team
Cat McGrath (Emory) -- MVP
Sydney Miles (Emory)
Kate Bowman (Emory)
Nakita Gearhart (Juniata)
Rachelle Wiegand (Juniata)
Maggie Emodi (Trinity)
Katie O'Rourke (Berry)