The Emory University volleyball team went undefeated on Sunday afternoon defeating the Brandeis Judges and the No. 12 ranked WashU Bears in the last UAA Round Robin tournament of the season. With their win against WashU, the Eagles clinch the No. 1 seed in the UAA Championships in November.
The No. 5 ranked Eagles improve to 16-1 on the season following their wins on Sunday and remain undefeated in conference play. Junior Alana Dawson had an impressive day notching 25 kills on the day, a career-best 20 of those coming against WashU. Fellow junior Madison Cail followed right behind with 23 kills of her own and another career-best 16 in the second match of the day. Senior Carly Wallace also shined offensively for Emory posting 21 kills and 11 against Brandeis. Sophomore Ioanna Copoulos had the best day of her career recording 46 assists, a career-high 30 against WashU.
In the first match against Brandeis, the Eagles dominated their three sets against the Judges with a 25-17,25-18, 25-17 line. In the first set, the Judges were able to tie the set at five before the Eagles ran with the lead. Kills rom Wallace and attack errors from Brandeis brought the score to 16-8 towards the middle of the set. The Judges looked for a comeback going on a four-point run but their effort fell short and the Eagles took the first set.
The second set played similar to the first with Emory holding a 13-9 lead in the middle of the set highlighted by kills from junior Lily Martin and Wallace. The rest of the set went back and forth before the Eagles scored three points at the end on two kills from Cail to take set two by a 25-18 score.
The third set began tied at three before the Eagles went on a seven-point scoring run to take a 10-3 lead. Brandeis brought the set to a 13-9 score before Emory went on another scoring run to take an 18-9 lead towards the end of the set. The scoring kept alternating between each team but the Eagles secured the set and the match with a 25-17 victory.
The second match against WashU saw the team's second five-set match of the season with a 23-25, 25-15, 25-14, 22-25, 15-12 victory. The first set of the match was a constant back and forth between the teams with the Bears holding a 10-7 lead in the middle of the set. The Eagles were able to bring the score to 23-20 followed by a five-point run from WashU to take the first set 25-23.
Emory came back with a vengeance in the second set starting with a 6-6- tie before going on a huge run to take a 13-9 lead highlighted by kills from Dawson and Cail. The Bears were able to score another six points in the set but the effort wasn't enough and the Eagles took set two with a 25-15 score.
The third set was another runaway for the Eagles taking a 15-7 lead in the middle of the set thanks to kills form Wallace and Martin. The scoring continued for Emory and the set ended 25-14 with an attack error from WashU.
The Bears held a 14-10 lead over Emory in the middle of the fourth set but the Eagles wouldn't go down without a fight tying the set at 14. The set continued back and forth but WashU was able to run with a slight advantage and take the fourth set 25-22.
With the No. 1 seed in the UAA Championships on the line, the Bears and Eagles headed into the fifth set with a win in mind. The set was tied at three before Emory took advantage of more kills from Wallace to take an 8-4 lead. The points alternated between both sides with Emory holding a 12-10 lead over the Bears. An attack error from WashU secured the 15th point for Emory and they took the set and match with a 15-12 line.
The Eagles will be back in action on Saturday, October 28 to face Averett at 11 am and Mary Washington at 1 pm in Danville, Virginia.