In an early-season showdown between the top-two ranked programs in Division III, the No. 2-Emory volleyball team met its first formidable challenge head on Friday evening, coming through with an impressive victory over No. 1-ranked Calvin College in the Knights' Labor Day Weekend Invitational. The Eagles upped their record to 3-0 following the 3-1 verdict (23-25, 27-25, 25-17, 25-13) over Calvin who saw its record fall to 1-1.
Junior Sarah Maher (Orange, CA) led three Eagles who finished with double-figure kills, totaling 17 terminations, her third-highest career effort, and turning in a .279 hitting percentage (17-5—43). Junior Kathryn Trinka (North Bay Village, FL) and freshman Karissa Dzurik each contributed a dozen successful attack attempts to the cause, with Dzurik adding five block assists. Senior Sydney Miles (Oklahoma City, OK) doled out 48 assists and helped Emory to a decided advantage in hitting percentage with a .277 performance (55-17—137) compared to Calvin's .127 (50-30—158).
The Eagles were aided by outstanding defensive play throughout the evening, concluding the match with a 69-57 advantage in digs, with freshman Beck Breuer setting the pace in that category with 23 defensive saves. Emory enjoyed a solid defensive presence at the net as well, registering a 14-4 margin in total blocks. Juniors Shannon Nugent (1-6) and Jessica Holler (0-7) were the mainstays with seven blocks apiece, with Nugent's output tying her career high.
After dropping a tough first set, Emory held a 10-8 edge in the second game before seeing the hosts rattle off a 7-1 spurt that put it ahead, 15-11. The Eagles trailed by a 20-16 count before a hitting miscue by the Knights followed by a Miles' kill drew them to within two points. Calvin maintained a 22-19 lead but a termination by Trinka followed by a service ace from Holler narrowed the deficit to a single point. After a Calvin point, Emory was the recipient of a pair of errors from Calvin that knotted the score at 23-23. From there, the Eagles staved off a pair of set points and totaled the final three points of the game to knot the match at 1-1.
Buoyed by the second-set win, Emory never trailed in the third game and broke away from an 18-16 lead with a 7-1 run, with Dzurik registering two terminations in that spurt, to close out the set en route to taking a 2-1 lead in the match.
It was all Emory in the fourth set as it hit a blazing .632 (14-2—19). Holding a 6-4 edge, the Eagles got some separation from the Knights with an 8-1 blitz, keyed by four kills by Maher, to claim a 14-5 cushion. Calvin did get to within six points at one stage, but the Eagles would eventually on a 6-2 spurt that pushed its advantage to 20-10.
Emory returns to action at the Invitational on Saturday with a pair of matches, starting with a 10:00 a.m. affair against Defiance College followed by a 12:30 p.m. test against John Carroll University.