FOREST, Va. – With the conclusion of the 2016 regular season, the Emory & Henry College Volleyball Team has earned the number six seed for the upcoming Old Dominion Athletic Conference Tournament.
E&H (16-12, 6-5 ODAC) finished in a three-way tie for fifth place in the league, its best finish since the 2009 season when the Wasps also finished in a tie for fifth. Emory & Henry will visit Turner Gymnasium on the campus of Lynchburg College on Wednesday, November 2 to take on #6 Lynchburg (18-9, 8-3 ODAC) at 6:30 p.m. The Wasps have made an appearance in the ODAC Tournament every year since the first competition in 1982 but are looking for their first postseason win since 2001.
In the regular season meeting between the two squads on Friday, September 30, the Hornets claimed a 3-1 (28-26, 18-25, 29-27, 25-15) win over the Wasps. Senior middle Kennady Thomason (Chattanooga, Tenn.) led the way with 13 kills and five blocks, hitting .423 (13-2-26) while junior outside hitter Ali Singleton (Mount Jackson, Va.) had 12 kills and two blocks. Sophomore Tori Holmberg (Wake Forest, N.C.) tacked on nine kills and three blocks while senior outside hitter Tristen Pennington (Kingsport, Tenn.) and senior right-side hitter Hannah Doss (Meadowview, Va.) added eight kills each with Pennington tacking on 12 digs.
Sophomore setter Sam McCauley (Glade Spring, Va.) led the way with 26 assists, eight digs and two aces while freshman Maggie Roark (Maryville, Tenn.) had 22 assists, eight digs and an ace. Senior libero Emily Hinshaw (Boone, N.C.) posted 18 digs to lead all players.
Emory & Henry attacked at a .181 (57-30-149) percentage for the match compared to .192 (49-21-146) for Lynchburg. The Wasps had a total of eight blocks and five aces in the match, but missed 15 serves. The Hornets finished with six blocks and also notched six aces and six errors.
Jennifer Garrett paced Lynchburg's offense with 15 kills and added 10 digs and three blocks for the double-double. Heaven Jarrell posted 11 kills while Disa Haugsdahl and Mesa Willis added eight and seven kills, respectively. Lynn Walsh notched a double-double with 29 assists and 11 digs.
The winner of Wednesday's match will take on the winner of the #2 Washington and Lee-#7 Virginia Wesleyan matchup, which will also be on Wednesday evening. The tournament semifinals will take place on Friday, November 4 on the campus of the highest remaining seed after the quarterfinals with the tournament championship on Saturday, November 5.
---E&H---