The Emory University volleyball team put together an undefeated weekend at the Emory Invitational capping the weekend off with two more wins, including over No. 8 Berry, on Saturday afternoon in the Woodruff PE Center.
The No. 10 ranked Eagles (18-6, 4-3 UAA) opened play on Saturday with a thriller against No. 8 Berry that Emory took in four sets 24-26, 25-23, 25-19, 25-21. Emory finished the day off with a strong straight-set showing against Oglethorpe winning by a score of 25-23, 25-16, 25-23. Three Eagles were named to the All-Tournament Team for their efforts on the weekend: senior Lauren Bandera, junior Amanda Meyer and junior Carly Wallace who was also honored with the Tournament MVP.
Wallace was sensational for the Eagles pouring in 28 kills on the day including an Eagles season-high 20 against Berry on an astounding .419 hitting percentage (20-2--43). Freshman Olivia Rabinowitz was the maestro the Emory offense needed, contributing 85 assists between the two matches on Saturday to bring her weekend total to 132 in 11 sets played. The two middles for the Eagles, sophomore Madison Cail and Meyer each had 19 kills between the two matches while the two combined for 19 total blocks as Emory dominated at the net all weekend long. Bandera was a defensive savant for Emory, keeping balls alive all weekend long to the tune of 39 digs.
In the first match of the day and their second of the season against Berry, the Eagles were able to open up a small lead early thanks to a 5-0 scoring run that included two Wallace terminations but the Vikings, a battle-hardened team, rallied to take a 9-8 lead. The remainder of the first set was a back-and-forth affair with the Eagles taking a 24-22 lead but it would be the Vikings who would draw the first blood going on a 4-0 run of their own to take the first set 26-24.
The Eagles found themselves in a 7-2 hole early in the second set but, similar to the Vikings, they knew how to go on a run and put themselves in the lead later down the road at 12-11 off of a service ace from freshman Elly Beshears. Another back-and-forth affair saw the Eagles take a 24-21 lead and despite a brief 2-0 run from the Vikings and a flashback to the first set, Emory was able to exorcise its demons and put the set away on a ferocious kill from Wallace.
With the match knotted up at a set apiece, the Eagles found their footing in the third set and turned a tight set into a comfortable Emory win with a 4-0 run to close the set, including two big-time blocks, that put Emory up two sets to one. Emory found itself with an early 16-9 lead in the fourth set thanks in large part to the stellar play of sophomore Jessica Majka. Despite the Vikings best efforts to work their way back into the match, the Eagles would prove too much to handle with Cail putting the finishing touches on the matches with a monster kill on the final point to give Emory the 25-21 set win.
The second match of the day against Oglethorpe looked to be yet another competitive match for the Eagles as they found themselves knotted up at 23 points apiece deep into the first set. Strong net play from Meyer and serves from Cail allowed the Eagles to squeak out a 25-23 first set lead but gave them the confidence they needed going into the second set.
Emory put together a 7-0 run in the middle of the second set, that was highlighted by two service aces from sophomore Deborah Hong, and then put together a 6-0 run, this one as a result of three separate blocks from Meyer, to close out the set 25-16. The third set was a set of narrow margins that harkened back to the Eagles match earlier in the day against Berry. With the Eagles up 24-21, they allowed two straight points to the Stormy Petrels but out of a timeout Cail put her stamp on her second match of the day closing this one with another power shot to give Emory the 25-23 set win.
The Eagles are back in action for the start of their postseason next Friday at 2:00 PM in Brooklyn, NY where they are set to face off against Case Western Reserve in the quarterfinals of the UAA Championship.