DANVILLE, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Volleyball Team (3-2) made it a 2-2 weekend at the 20th Annual Cougar Classic on the campus of Averett University with a split of its two matches on Sunday. E&H opened the day with a 3-0 (27-25, 25-12, 25-12) loss to Central College of Iowa before defeating Greensboro College by a 3-1 (25-12, 28-26, 20-25, 25-9) score in its final match of the tournament.
Sunday morning, the Wasps hit just .129 (25-14-85) in the match against the three-time Division III National Champion Knights. Sophomore outside hitter Tristen Pennington (Kingsport, Tenn.) led the attack for E&H with nine kills and added five digs while sophomore right side Allie Evans (Frisco, Texas) had five kills.
Emory & Henry senior middle Anika Constantinescu (Surrey, British Columbia, CANADA) and sophomore outside hitter Hannah Doss (Meadowview, Va.) chipped in four kills apiece while senior setter Maleah Neely (Hillsville, Va.) had 15 assists and sophomore libero Emily Hinshaw (Boone, N.C.) notched 20 digs.
Central was paced by Kylie Gerstein with seven kills, Hannah Welter and Emily Stoakes (six kills). Claire Stewart dished-out a match-high 20 assists while Dzenita Bahtic and Tori Zempel had 10 digs apiece. The Knights hit .275 (36-11-91) for the match and took advantage of 14 service aces and seven blocks.
In the afternoon match against Greensboro, Emory & Henry responded to take down the familiar foe with a 3-1 win. As a team, the Wasps improved their hitting percentage to .246 (44-12-130) and had 14 service aces. Doss notched a match-high 11 kills while Pennington collected eight kills, nine digs and five service aces.
Evans added eight kills and four aces of her own while Neely notched a double-double with 26 assists and 10 digs. Hinshaw made it a 40-dig day, equaling her effort of 20 digs from the morning and chipping in three aces.
Greensboro spread the attack around with five players registering six or more kills. Liz Widenhouse had eight kills, 15 digs and four blocks while Shayla Moss notched a team-high nine kills. Megan Baranko added seven kils and four blocks while Bari Tressler and Darrian Bolt combined for 30 of the team's 35 assists. The Pride suffered heavily from errors on the attack, hitting only .086 (39-27-140) for the match.
Emory & Henry will remain on the road next weekend when it travels to Fayetteville, North Carolina for a tri-match on the campus of Methodist University. The Wasps will play the host Methodist Monarchs at 11:00 a.m., before facing off against the North Carolina Wesleyan College Battling Bishops at 1:00 p.m.
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-photo courtesy of Austin Bunn, E&H '14