The Emory volleyball team continues a five-match home stand this Sunday (Oct. 6) when it hosts the University Athletic Association Round Robin II. On tap for the Eagles are two matches, a noon contest against Washington University, followed by a 2:00 pm tilt vs. New York University. All matches will be played at the Woodruff PE Center (26 Eagle Row, Atlanta, GA 30322) and admission is free.
Directions to Emory Woodruff PE Center: https://emoryathletics.com/information/Directions
A schedule for Sunday's action is as follows:
10:00 am
Court A – Brandeis vs. Case Western Reserve
Court B – New York University vs. Rochester
Noon
Court A – Emory vs. Washington University
Court B – University of Chicago vs. Brandeis
Court C – Carnegie Mellon vs. Case Western Reserve
2:00 pm
Court A – Emory vs. New York University
Court B – Chicago vs. Carnegie Mellon
Court C – Washington University vs. Rochester
There will be a video stream for the matches played on Court A. The link for the video is:
https://emoryathletics.com/sports/wvball/live
Emory enters the upcoming weekend as the No. 1 ranked D-III program in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25 Poll.
THE COACHES - Emory head coach Jenny McDowell (Georgia, '89) is in her 24th year at the helm of the Eagles' program and owns a school and career mark of 758-167. She has 20 campaigns of 30 or more wins, including last year's slate of 30-6, and has directed the program to 23 consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament. She has steered the Eagles to six berths to the national semifinals and has national championships to her credit in 2008 and 2018.
2019 represents the sixth year that Vanessa Walby (UW-Whitewater, '02) has directed the fortunes of the Wash U program. Heading into the weekend, Walby, who has guided the Bears to five NCAA Tourney berths, has chalked up a school record of 158-43. Now in her 12th campaign as a head coach, Walby owns a career slate of 321-114.
Andrew Brown (Ramapo College, '11) is in his second campaign as the head coach at NYU. During his short tenure with the Violets, he has amassed a school slate of 36-20. Prior to his current post, Brown served as the head coach at Union College (NY) where he totaled a record of 66-38.
SERIES RECORDS – Washington University has captured 52 of the 67 meetings against Emory. The Eagles swept the Bears at the UAA Round Robin II last season in the lone match-up between the programs.
Emory posts an all-time mark of 37-13 against NYU. The Eagles and Violets met on one occasions last year with the Eagles prevailing by a 3-0 count.
RECORDS – Emory checks into the weekend with an overall record of 13-1 (3-0 UAA). The Eagles have won their last seven outings including a 3-0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-12) triumph at home over Lee University on Wednesday.
Emory has won its last 13 of its last 14 matches against top-25 ranked teams (5-1 in 2019).
Wash U stands 12-5 in overall play, 2-1 in league affairs. The Bears are coming off a 3-1 win at Webster on Tuesday of this week. The Bears are receiving votes in this week's AVCA Top 25 Poll.
NYU claims a 14-4 record following a sweep of Hunter College on Thursday.
EMORY SPREADS OUT ATTACK – A check at the University Athletic Association statistics show that Emory has three of the top six performers in the kills-per-set category. Junior Leah Saunders tops the squad and holds down the No. 3 spot on the conference chart with an average of 3.00 kills per set while senior Morgan McKnight is one spot behind with an average of 2.93 terminations per game. Sophomore Tara Martin rounds out the trio with her effort of 2.89 kills placing her sixth.
SRB DIRECTS EMORY OFFENSE -- Freshman setter Cassie Srb has directed the Emory offensive attack to the tune of 9.93 assists per set, good for third place among UAA players. In the September 26 win over Oglethorpe, Srb doled out 34 assists and chipped in three kills. She has 40 or more assists to her credit on three occasions including a season-best 48 in a five-set win at Berry (Sept. 7).
THOMPSON CLIMBS DIGS LADDER – Elyse Thompson sports a career total of 1,478 digs, just 33 from tying the school record of 1,511 held by Kate Bowman (2011-14). An All-America Honorable Mention pick last year, Thompson stands seventh among UAA performers with an average of 4.03 digs per set.
McKNIGHT APPROACHING COVETED PLATEAU – Enter this weekend's UAA Round Robin II, Morgan McKnight is approaching the 1,000 career-kills plateau. McKnight has dialed up a total of 946 terminations during her tenure at Emory, just 10 terminations shy of cracking the program's all-time top 20. To date, a total of 18 Emory players have recorded 1,000 or more career kills, the most recent being Kathryn Trinka in 2016.
McKnight has produced eight matches of double-figure kills this year, 42 during her career.
EMORY CAPTAINS – Serving as the captains for the 2019 Emory volleyball team will be seniors Elyse Thompson and Morgan McKnight.
NEW FACES ON THE EMORY ROSTER – Seven talented freshmen comprise this year's 22-player roster with those rookies being: Katie Hulme (Saratoga, CA), Cassie Srb (Seabrook, TX), Caitlyn Reynolds (West Baden, IN), Abby Heimlicher (Parker, CO), Katie Carmichael (Park Ridge, IL), Kirwan Carey (Westport, CT) and Amanda Meyer (St. Louis, MO).
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 386-56 (.872) since 1992.
More recently, Emory has been dominant at the Woodpec, compiling a 57-6 record at home since the 2015 campaign. In 2017, the Eagles were successful in 10 of 12 home matches.