EMORY, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Volleyball Team (12-14, 4-6 ODAC) saw its two-match winning streak come to an end Saturday afternoon as it lost a pair of matches to Shenandoah University (16-9, 6-4 ODAC) and Bluefield College in a tri-match at Bob Johnson Court.
The Wasps fell to the Shenandoah Hornets by a 3-1 (25-20, 19-25, 24-26, 25-14) score and battled the Bluefield Lady Rams (13-13) through a five-set thriller, but lost 3-2 (25-18, 23-25, 25-22, 19-25, 16-14).
Against Shenandoah, sophomore outside hitter Ali Singleton (Mount Jackson, Va.) had a team-high 12 kills and nine digs while junior right-side hitter Hannah Doss (Meadowview, Va.) added eight kills, four blocks and 12 digs. Junior middle Kennady Thomason (Chattanooga, Tenn.) had seven kills and nine blocks while junior outside hitter Tristen Pennington (Kingsport, Tenn.) added seven kills and 11 assists. Sophomore setter Sarah Scott (Collinsville, Va.) added 18 assists while junior libero Emily Hinshaw (Boone, N.C.) notched 15 digs to lead all players.
The Hornets were led by Allie Pieper's 13 kills while Blake Parkes had 10 kills and 10 digs. Kaitlyn Kelley added nine kills while Rachel Roberts notched five kills and six blocks. Rachel Cerretani had 22 assists and eight digs and Jasmine Callahan dished out 15 assists to go along with two aces and eight digs. Brandi Griffith posted 14 digs to lead SU.
As a team Shenandoah hit .185 (50-23-146) compared to a .101 (40-26-139) attack by Emory & Henry. The Hornets led 6-3 on service aces but the Wasps held a 14-7 advantage on blocks.
In the final match of the day against Bluefield, Emory & Henry battled the whole way as the contest featured a total of 30 ties and 16 lead changes. The only set that was not back and forth for nearly the entire way was the fourth where the Wasps led from wire to wire.
Singleton added 17 kills and five blocks to her register while freshman outside hitter Tori Holmberg (Wake Forest, N.C.) had 12 kills and two blocks. Thomason posted 11 digs and three blocks and Doss collected a double-double with 10 kills and 15 digs. Freshman setter Sam McCauley (Glade Spring, Va.) had 34 assists and 12 digs for a double-double of her own while Hinshaw added a match-high 21 digs.
Bluefield placed three players in double figures in kills led by Ellen Johnson with 15 kills and 11 digs. Lexie Mocarski contributed 14 kills and 11 digs while Mikaela Hurt added 10 kills and four blocks. Channell Flores led all players with 46 assists while Hannah Winter added 20 digs.
Emory & Henry talled a .196 (61-28-168) hitting percentage and collected 11 blocks on the afternoon but was plagued by 15 service errors. Bluefield attacked at a 57-29-166 (.169) clip and added eight blocks.
Emory & Henry will have another tri-match on Tuesday when it travels to Montgomery, West Virginia to face West Virginia University Tech and Davis & Elkins College. The Wasps will face the D&E Elks at 5:00 p.m., and take on the WVU Tech Golden Bears at 7:00 p.m.
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-photo courtesy of Caleb Johnston, E&H '15