In the opening round of the NCAA tournament, the No. 13 ranked Emory University volleyball team made quick work of regional opponent Southern Virginia, downing them in straight sets.

The Eagles turned a well-rounded performance into a 25-17, 25-19, 25-13 straight set victory over the No. 7 regionally ranked Knights. The Martins duo, senior Tara Martin and freshman Lily Martin, led the way for the Eagles again contributing 21 kills between the two of them with a combined hitting percentage of .289. Emory out-hit Southern Virginia .280 to .072. Junior Cassie Srb continued to prove why she is an all-region talent pitching in 38 assists and 5 digs in the match. The Eagles outpaced the Knights in digs by a total of 48 to 38 with freshman Deborah Hong pitching in 15 of her own.

After a tight back-and-forth battle to open the match the Eagles strung together four straight points to give them a 17-11 lead. The run was capped off by the first of junior Abby Heimlicher's five total aces for the match. The Knights never got back within five points during the first set as Srb slammed the door shut with a dump kill to close out the set.

Southern Virginia opened the second set strong forcing Emory into a timeout with the score at 16-16. The Eagles responded by coming out of the timeout on a 6-0 run highlighted by two blocks and a kill by freshman Alana Dawson.

The third and final set was decided by a 7-0 run by the Eagles in the middle of the set to put Emory up 19-10 effectively ending Southern Virginia's season. The run was highlighted by impressive serving from Heimlicher that led to three aces. The Eagles closed the match on another 6-0 run with the cherry on top coming from a big kill from All-Region player Tara Martin.

The Eagles advance to the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament where they will take on UT-Dallas Friday night at 7:00 PM in the Woodruff PE Center.