The Emory volleyball team closed out its opening day of competition at the East-West Challenge by suffering a defeat at the hands of host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.  The No. 3-ranked Athenas raised their record to 8-1 after coming away with a 3-1 (22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-22) outcome over the No. 6 Eagles who slipped to 7-3.

CMS finished the battle with an advantage in both hitting percentage (.211 vs. .160) and total blocks (12-6) while Emory registered a 73-63 digs edge. Junior Morgan McKnight and sophomore Leah Saunders led the Eagles with 12 and 10 kills, respectively, while senior Sydney Leimbach contributed eight terminations and three total blocks.  Junior Elyse Thompson paced Emory with 20 digs, the fourth time this year she had reached or surpassed the number.

Having a short time frame to regroup after dropping a five-set outcome to Juniata, the Eagles found themselves trailing by a 15-8 count in the first set before battling back to capture the game. After drawing to within an 18-15 margin, a 9-1 Eagle blitz, keyed by a pair of terminations by Karissa Dzurik, surged the Eagles to a 24-19 lead. The Athenas stayed in the hunt with a 3-0 run, but Emory finally secured the game. 

CMS knotted the match using a late 8-2 charge that erased a three-point Emory lead, setting the stage for an important third game. Trailing by an 18-16 score, Emory was the beneficiary of back-to-back kills by Saunders, and a Saunders/Leimbach block assist as part of a 4-0 run that gave it a 20-18 edge. The Athenas responded by accounting for four of the game's next five points that gave them a 22-21 advantage. Terminations by Dzurik and Leimbach pushed Emory to a one-point margin, but CMS used a kill by Melanie Moore and a block solo by Moore as key plays in scoring the final three points and taking a 2-1 match lead.

A 5-1 stretch, which saw senior setter Mady Arles post two kills and McKnight and Leimbach one each, allowed Emory to enjoy a 16-11 cushion in the fourth set.  The Eagles still maintained four-point spreads at 20-16 after sophomore Maggie Rimmel came through with one of her five fourth-set terminations, and 21-17 after a kill by Leimbach, but CMS closed out the contest by generating an 8-1 blitz with Moore putting the brakes on Emory attack attempts with a pair of block assists as well as a block solo. Moore topped all players with 13 kills while compiling eight (2-6) total blocks.

Emory returns to action at the East-West Challenge on Saturday with a match against UT Dallas starting at 3:15 pm (EDT).