EMORY, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Volleyball Team (17-11, 6-5 ODAC) picked up a 3-2 (25-14, 23-25, 25-27, 25-18, 15-7) win over Eastern Mennonite University (8-19, 1-10 ODAC) Wednesday evening in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference finale for both teams. The match was back and forth the whole way as it featured a total of 38 ties and 15 lead changes.
The match also served as Senior Night for the Wasps, who honored setter Maleah Neely (Hillsville, Va.), defensive specialist Kelsey Marrs (Hillsville, Va.) and middle Anika Constantinescu (Surrey, British Columbia, CANADA) prior to the match.
Emory & Henry got out to an early lead in the first set and never looked back as it led 12-7 early. The Wasps pushed that advantage to 18-11 before scoring the final five points of the set, to win 25-14, after a small rally by the Royals.
In the second stanza, EMU took an early 9-5 lead but E&H battled back to get within one, 9-8. The Wasps continued to put on the pressure and tied things up at 17. There would be five more ties before the end of the set but with the score knotted at 23, the Royals scored the final two points to tie the match, 1-1.
The Wasps went up 9-2 early in the third frame, but Eastern Mennonite roared back to go up 10-9. The score would be no more than two points different the rest of the way as EMU took the 27-25 win and a 2-1 lead in the match. There were 16 ties and five lead changes in the third set alone.
In the fourth set, the two teams traded points early until Emory & Henry seized control midway through. With the score tied at 12, the Wasps scored eight of the next 11 points to take a 20-15 lead. A three-point serving run put E&H on the cusp and a big kill by sophomore outside hitter Tristen Pennington (Kingsport, Tenn.) sent the match to a deciding fifth set.
The Royals started things off with a 2-0 lead, but Emory & Henry scored four of the next five points to go up 4-3. The two squads jostled for position, with the Wasps reaching eight points first. Sophomore libero Emily Hinshaw (Boone, N.C.) served seven points in a row for E&H as it went up 13-6 and were able to cruise to a 15-7 win and seal the victory.
Constantinescu made the most of her senior night, tallying 13 kills on a .478 (14-2-23) hitting percentage. Pennington had a match high 15 kills and added 15 digs to complete the double-double while Neely had a double-double of her own with 52 assists and 10 digs. Sophomore middle Kennady Thomason (Chattanooga, Tenn.) had 12 kills and five blocks while sophomore right side Hannah Doss (Meadowview, Va.) added 12 kills and eight digs. Freshman outside hitter Ali Singleton (Mount Jackson, Va.) registered 10 kills and seven digs while Hinshaw finished the match with a team-high 16 digs.
As a team, Emory & Henry hit .297 (68-19-165) for the match and added seven service aces and seven blocks.
Sara Ritchie had 15 kills and 12 digs to lead EMU while Ragan Cook notched 12 kills of her own. Erin Mays tallied 21 assists and 10 digs while her counterpart Jasmine Johnson added 17 assist and eight digs. Katie Miller led all players with 22 digs in the contest.
The Royals tallied a .154 (49-24-162) hitting percentage for the match and had eight service aces and five blocks.
Emory & Henry will conclude the regular season on Saturday when it travels to Montgomery, West Virginia for a non-conference matchup against West Virginia University Tech. First serve between the Wasps and Golden Bears is set for 2:00 p.m.
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-photo courtesy of Caleb Johnston, E&H '15