From Emory University Athletics

The No. 8-ranked Emory volleyball team came away with a pair of wins over South Region opponents on Saturday.  The Eagles ventured to the campus of Birmingham Southern where they rallied for a 3-2 win over No. 20 Hendrix (21-25, 25-21, 25-15, 16-25, 15-13) before closing out the day with a 3-0 triumph (25-20, 25-17, 25-19) over the host Panthers.  Emory has won its last seven matches and stands 11-3.

In a defensive battle that saw the Warriors and Eagles combine for over 200 digs, Emory ended the contest hitting .160 (59-29—187) compared to HC's mark of .121 (53-28—206).   After splitting the first four sets, Emory found itself staring at a 10-3 deficit in the fifth game.  The Warriors still maintained an 11-5 cushion before the Eagles exploded for an 8-0 run, which saw senior Jessica Holler pick up two kills and freshman Sarah Porter a kill and a service ace, to claim a 13-11 edge. Hendrix scored two of the next three points to creep back to within 13-14, but a termination by sophomore Sydney Leimbach accounted for the match's final point.  Holler chalked up 16 kills and hit .394 (16-3—33) while senior Kathryn Trinka pounded out 14 successful attack attempts.  Emory recorded an astounding 112 digs, the program's third-highest match total, and was paced in that department by freshman Andie McKinnon's mark of 33, tying the school's third-highest individual match output, while senior Sarah Maher racked up a career-best 21.

Leimbach and Holler were key factors in the win over BSC, with Leimbach leading all players with 12 kills to go along with a .647 hitting percentage (12-1—17) and Holler picking up 11 terminations and finishing with an attack effort of .429 (11-2—21), her sixth consecutive match of hitting .300 or higher.  In addition, the pair was a formidable presence at the net as Leimbach contributed four block assists and Holler three. McKinnon led the team with 15 digs while sophomore Mira Grinsfelder picked up 13.