GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Emory & Henry College Volleyball Team (14-5, 4-2 ODAC) equaled its win total from a year ago with a 3-1 (25-27, 25-16, 25-18, 25-19) win over Guilford College (5-11, 2-3 ODAC) Tuesday at Ragan-Brown Field House. Senior outside hitter Jamie Cockerham (Galax, Va.) led all players with a school-record 28 kills on the night.
The Quakers took a 1-0 lead after the first set. With the score tied at 11, E&H went on a 9-2 run to go up 20-13. Guilford responded with a 9-2 run of its own, tying the contest at 22 points apiece. The two squads battled through ties at 23, 24 and 25 before GC got two straight points to win 27-25.
In the second set, the Wasps got out to a 12-2 lead and would push their advantage to 21-9 late after a 7-2 run on junior libero Kelly Mae Kerlin (Franklin, Tenn.) and sophomore setter Maleah Neely's (Hillsville, Va.) serves. With the score at 24-11, the Quakers would close the gap with five straight points before a kill by Cockerham put the stanza in the books.
The third frame was all Emory & Henry early as well. E&H got out to a 7-1 start and never looked back leading by as much as eight (13-5) in the set. Down, 22-13, Guilford mounted a comeback to cut the deficit to 24-8 but a kill by freshman outside hitter Hannah Stewart (Boone, N.C.) gave the Wasps a 2-1 lead in the match.
The two teams battled back and forth in the fourth set seeing the scored tied seven times and three lead changes. With the scored tied at 12, the Wasps reeled off three straight points to go up 15-12 but the Quakers responded with three points of their own. Coming out of the timeout, Cockerham gave the Wasps a 16-15 lead that they would not relinquish as E&H would go up 24-17, winning the set and the match with a 25-19 score.
Cockerham paced all players with 28 kills, topping her previous career-high of 26, a she hit .490 (28-4-49) for the match. Stewart had 13 kills, 12 digs and three service aces for the Wasps while junior middle Nicole Tesh (Boone, N.C.) had 11 kills, three aces and three blocks in the contest. Neely finished the match with 46 assists and Kerlin recorded a match-high 16 digs.
Guilford was led by Malikah French with 15 kills while Brittany DeCesare added 13 of her own. Taylor Whitley dished-out 40 assists and Meredith Foscue registered 13 digs.
As a team, the Wasps attacked at a .339 (61-18-137) percentage compared to just .238 (50-21-122) for the Quakers. E&H led the service ace battle, 12-3, and outblocked Guilford, 7-4.
Emory & Henry will next take the court on Tuesday, October 9 at 7:00 p.m., when they face off against the Scots of Maryville College at home.
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