Two highly dramatic matches ended in a split for the No. 6 ranked Emory University volleyball team Sunday afternoon at the UAA Round Robin II in Pittsburgh, PA.
The Eagles dropped the first set before storming back to win in four 22-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-17 in the first match of the day in a top-10 showdown with No. 5 ranked WashU. Emory then rallied from one set down to force a fifth set in the following match against host Carnegie Mellon, however the Tartans prevailed 16-25, 25-18, 25-20, 15-25, 15-12.
Sophomore Alana Dawson totaled team-highs in kills in both contests, leading the Eagles with 11 against the Bears before a 16-kill performance against CMU. Classmate Lily Martin tallied 24 kills across the two matches with juniors Amanda Meyer and Carly Wallace contributed 20 kills apiece on the afternoon. Sophomore Madison Cail notched eight kills with a team-leading .389% attack percentage as she made her return to the lineup against the Bears. At the net, Meyer continued her strong play with two solo blocks and eight block assists on the day while freshman Olivia Rabinowitz averaged 39 assists and sophomore Deborah Hong corralled totals of 16 and 28 digs, respectively.
Trailing a set to open play with the Bears, the Eagles started strong in the second claiming six straight points and led 8-1. WashU eventually clawed its way back to make it 18-17 before the Eagles ended the set on another 7-1 run that included back-to-back aces from Hong to clinch the set.
Emory continued its run to begin the third, winning three straight before play evened up with score being 9-8 in favor of EU. The Eagles once more used another 7-1 run highlighted by a combined four kills from Dawson and Wallace en route to take the set, 25-18. The fourth set was more of the same from the Eagles as they used a 12-3 burst to break open a one-point game on their way to clinch the match.
The Eagles continued to ride the momentum in the opening set with the Tartans, rattling off a 10-0 run to erase a 5-3 deficit and led by as many as 11 to win by nine, 25-16. The Tartans answered across the next two sets though, controlling play from the onset in both to move in front two sets to one.
Determined to force a fifth, Emory came out in a fury and never trailed in a wire-to-wire win in the fourth. A close game at 7-5 quickly saw the Eagles in front 16-6 with five different players recording kills, forcing CMU to burn both timeouts. Trailing 18-7, Carnegie Mellon had a 7-2 run to briefly get back into it at 20-14 before the Eagles closed out the set on a 5-1 run thanks to two kills from Martin and an ace by senior Lauren Bandera for the final point.
Back-and-forth action got things going in the fifth as the game was knotted at 6-6 prior to multiple errors by the Tartans aided the Eagles grabbing a 10-7 advantage. CMU answered with four straight though as the hosts seized an 11-10 lead prior to a Martin kill that briefly stopped the run. Terminations by CMU's Avani Seshahi and Laura Reichard and an attacking error by the Eagles led CMU to the brink of the match. Meyer staved off one match point with her kill at 14-12 but that would be as close as the Eagles would get as Reichard clinched the winning point for CMU.
Next up for the Eagles will be three straight matches against SAA foes, beginning with a home date with the Sewanee Tigers this Saturday, October 8gh at 5:00 PM at the Woodruff PE Center.