EMORY, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Volleyball Team (4-3) gave the home fans an exciting match to open the home portion of the 2014 season Tuesday evening at the John Rutledge King Center. The Wasps defeated the Lady Blues of Bluefield State College (1-4) by a 3-2 (25-17, 25-17, 18-25, 23-25, 15-9) score.
Emory & Henry jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the first set thanks to a seven-point service run by sophomore libero Emily Hinshaw (Boone, N.C.). The Wasps pushed their advantage to 18-5 on senior setter Maleah Neely's (Hillsville, Va.) serve. Bluefield state would nibble at the lead but got no closer than seven the rest of the way as E&H went up 1-0 with a 25-17 win.
In the second stanza, the Wasps continued to press their advantage, leading by as much as 13 (20-7). Senior middle Anika Constantinescu (Surrey, British Columbia, CANADA) and sophomore right side hitter Hannah Doss (Meadowview, Va.) each had four kills in the frame for E&H. The Lady Blues scored five straight points to cut the lead to 20-12, but the deficit was insurmountable as the Wasps cruised to another 25-17 win.
Bluefield State's attack came alive in the third set, as the team went 14-4-22 for a .455 hitting percentage. Tyann Thomas had five kills in the set to lead the Lady Blues, who cut the match score to 2-1 with their 25-18 win. Thomas kept the momentum rolling for BSC in the fourth set with six kills, but Emory & Henry sophomore outside hitter Tristen Pennington (Kingsport, Tenn.) answered back with five kills of her own. The fourth frame was close, featuring 12 ties and four lead changes, but Bluefield State came away with the 25-23 win to tie the match at two.
The fifth and deciding set left nothing to be desired as both squads had opportunities to take control. The Lady Blues went up 5-3 early, but the Wasps scored three straight points to lead 6-5. Points were traded back and forth until the score was 9-8 in favor of Bluefield State. Emory & Henry finished things off with seven points in a row for a 15-9 win and the match.
Sophomore middle Kennady Thomason (Chattanooga, Tenn.) lead the way offensively for E&H as she posted 11 kills on a .529 (11-2-17) hitting percentage while adding five blocks. Doss also had 11 kills in the match to go along with nine digs. Sophomore outside hitter Allie Evans (Frisco, Texas) tallied 10 kills while Hinshaw finished the night with 20 digs, seven assists and four service aces. Neely had 42 assists, six kills and seven digs as well while Pennington added nine kills and nine digs.
Bluefield State was paced by Brittney Deveauxm who had 14 kills and a .636 hitting percentage. Thomas notched a double-double with 13 kills and 15 digs while Lais Weba registered 13 kills and seven digs. Nikolina Nikolic had 42 assists and three aces while Jessie Rehwald added 16 digs.
Emory & Henry will return to the court on Saturday when it travels to Lookout Mountain, Georgia for a tri-match on the campus of Covenant College. The Wasps will face Covenant at 10:00 a.m and will conclude the day against Agnes Scott College at noon.
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