EMORY, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Volleyball Team (7-1, 2-0 ODAC) picked up a key Old Dominion Athletic Conference win Saturday afternoon as it defeated Lynchburg College (4-7, 1-2 ODAC) by a 3-1 (24-26, 25-21, 25-23, 25-22) score at the John Rutledge King Center. It is the first time since the 2008 season that the Wasps have prevailed over the Hornets.
Lynchburg got out to a 1-0 lead in the match after winning the first set. The frame saw 11 ties and six lead changes as the two squads battled back and forth. The Hornets took advantage of .213 (17-7-47) hitting in the frame and pushed the final two points across to take the point, 26-24.
Emory & Henry responded in the second set to tie things up. With the score tied at 14, the Wasps went on a 7-1 run for a 21-15 advantage. LC closed the gap to 22-19, forcing an E&H timeout, but would get no closer as the Wasps evened the match with a 25-21 win.
The third frame looked as if it was going to be all Emory & Henry as the Wasps broke open a 6-6 tie scoring 11 of the next 14 points to lead 17-9. The Hornets fought back, however and closed the gap to 21-18 and eventually tying things up at 23. E&H scored two straight points for the 25-23 win and 2-1 lead in the match.
Emory & Henry and Lynchburg both seemed to realize the importance of the fourth set and neither side was going to back down. The frame featured 11 ties and four lead changes and went back and forth all the way to a 17-17 deadlock. A pair of Wasp points forced a Hornet timeout and Lynchburg tied things again at 21. After a timeout to talk things over, E&H scored four of the final five points including the match-winning kill by senior middle Nicole Tesh (Boone, N.C.) to seal the victory.
For the contest, there were 40 ties and 14 lead changes and Emory & Henry posted a .189 (55-23-169) hitting percentage compared to 48-25-154 (.149) for Lynchburg. The Hornets out-blocked the Wasps, 14-4 and had six service aces to just two for E&H.
Tesh led the way for Emory & Henry with 14 kills while freshman outside hitter Hannah Doss (Meadowview, Va.) and freshman middle Kennady Thomason (Chattanooga, Tenn.) had 13 and 12 kills respectively. Junior setter Maleah Neely (Hillsville, Va.) dished out 45 assists and had 15 digs to complete the double-double while senior libero Kelly Mae Kerlin (Franklin, Tenn.) had a team-high 16 digs.
Lynchburg was led offensively by Aricquel Payne, who had 21 kills and 14 digs. Gabby Myers notched a double-double with 26 assists and 10 digs while Sierra Strathy registered six kills, 11 blocks and three service aces.
Emory & Henry will remain at home on Wednesday when it hosts Hollins University in ODAC action at 7:00 p.m. The Wasps won a non-conference meeting last weekend, 3-0, in the Hollins Green Invitational.
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