ROANOKE, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Volleyball Team (5-1) split its two matches Saturday at the Hollins Green Invitational. The Wasps defeated the Monarchs of Methodist University by a 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-13) score in the first match of the day before falling to St. Mary's (Md.) College, 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-21).

The Wasps picked up a four-set win over the Monarchs, who are a familiar non-conference opponent. Emory & Henry dropped the first set by close margin, 25-23, and responded to take the final three frames for the victory, including a convincing 25-13 fourth set. Freshman outside hitter Tristen Pennington (Kingsport, Tenn.) had 19 kills and 14 digs while freshman middle Kennady Thomason (Chattanooga, Tenn.) registered 10 kills of her own. Junior setter Maleah Neely (Hillsville, Va.) dished-out 25 assists and senior libero Kelly Mae Kerlin (Franklin, Tenn.) tallied a team-high 17 digs.

Methodist's Emily Krochmal notched 11 kills and 11 digs while Allison Graves had 16 kills and 13 digs. Risa Smith had 31 assists and Karly Klimas picked up 13 digs.

In the final match of the tournament against St. Mary's, E&H attacked at just a .041 (34-29-122) percentage, a season low.  Pennington had 11 kills and 12 digs for the double-double while senior middle Nicole Tesh (Boone, N.C.) and sophomore outside hitter Hannah Stewart (Boone, N.C.) each had seven kills. Tesh added three blocks in the match while Kerlin (Franklin, Tenn.) had 19 digs. Neely notched a match-high 28 assists.

The Seahawks were led by Autumn Fisher, who had 10 kills, while Mandy Godspeed and Karlee Vaillant registered nine and eight kills, respectively. Grace Chao had a double-double with 16 assists and 10 digs while Mimi Graf tallied a team-high 20 assists. Carissa Hill also had 18 digs in the contest.

Emory & Henry will next take the court on Friday, September 13 when it hosts Randolph College to open Old Dominion Athletic Conference play. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m.

---E&H---