LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Volleyball Team (10-10, 3-3 ODAC) moved to .500 on the year and in Old Dominion Athletic Conference play Wednesday evening with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-23) win over Lynchburg College (6-11, 2-5 ODAC) at Turner Gym.
The victory marks the first time that Emory & Henry has won on the Lynchburg campus since October 5, 2004 when E&H claimed a 3-1 (27-30, 31-29, 30-28, 30-22) victory over the Hornets.
The Wasps started the match off strong, going up 6-3 in the opening set and running their lead to 10-5. Lynchburg got to within two later on, 20-18, but the Wasps finished the stanza with five of the next eight points to go up 1-0 in the match.
In the second frame, the Hornets took an early 4-1 lead but Emory & Henry bounced back to tie things up at six points apiece. With the score tied, 9-9, E&H went on an 11-3 run to take control and lead 20-12. The two squads traded points for the remainder of the set, but with the Wasps up big, the 2-0 lead was never in question.
The two teams battled back and forth to a nine-all tie in the third set. Emory & Henry then ran off five straight to go up 14-9 and later after Lynchburg tied things up at 17, put together another 5-0 run to go up 22-17. The Hornets closed the gap all the way to two points twice down the stretch, but the Wasps held strong to seal the victory.
Emory & Henry was led by freshman middle Kate Franklin (Blountville, Tenn.), who posted 10 kills on .600 (10-1-15) hitting. Junior middle Kennady Thomason (Chattanooga, Tenn.) had seven kills and two blocks while freshman outside hitter Tori Holmberg (Wake Forest, N.C.) added seven kills. Junior Tristen Pennington (Kingsport, Tenn.) notched six kills, 16 assists, six digs and three service aces while sophomore outside hitter Ali Singleton (Mount Jackson, Va.) had six kills of her own.
Sophomore setter Sarah Scott (Collinsville, Va.) dished out a team-high 20 assists and added two aces while junior libero Emily Hinshaw (Boone, N.C.) had 18 digs and three service aces. As a team, the Wasps posted a .284 (40-13-95) hitting percentage for the match, collected 11 service aces and added three blocks.
Lynchburg's Jennifer Garrett had 11 kills while Amelia Dalton notched seven kills and 11 digs and Kelly Layne added five kills. Lynn Walsh dropped in 24 assists as the Hornets attached at just a 30-16-97 (.144) clip and managed just three aces in the match.
Emory & Henry will remain on the road this weekend when it travels to Ashland, Virginia for a pair of ODAC contests Saturday. The Wasps will face off against the Yellow Jackets of Randolph-Macon College and the Marlins of Virginia Wesleyan College on the R-MC campus.