From Emory University Athletics
The No. 2-ranked Emory volleyball team split a pair of white-knucklers on the final day of action at the Wittenberg University National Invitational. In their first outing of the day, the Eagles saw host and No. 11-ranked Wittenberg rally from a 0-2 deficit to come away with a 3-2 victory, before turning the tables on Illinois Wesleyan, losing the first two sets before clawing to a 3-2 win. Emory finished its opening weekend of play with a 2-1 mark.
Emory kept the Wittenberg offense in check in the first sets of that encounter, holding the Tigers to a .109 hitting percentage while claiming a pair of 25-23 wins. However, WU regrouped and picked up its offensive pace over the last three games, registering a .301 hitting mark compared to Emory's .087, en route to capturing 25-21, 25-16, 15-12 scores. Sophomore Sara Carr tied for match honors with a career-high 16 kills and hit .303 (16-6—33) while Morgan McKnight and junior Sydney Leimbach chipped in 12 and 10 terminations, respectively, with Leimbach posting a hitting effort of .348. Sophomore Sarah Porter dished out 26 assists and added three service aces while junior Mady Arles accounted for 24 assists and six digs.
After seeing the Titans of IWU escape with 27-25 and 28-26 triumphs in the opening two sets, Emory bounced back in strong fashion over the final three games, compiling a hitting percentage of .272 (37-10—99) vs. the Titans' .104 (27-17—96) and earning 25-19, 25-18, 15-9 wins. Carr and McKnight tied for team honors with 14 terminations while sophomore Katie Kane rose to the occasion when called upon, banging out a career-best 13 kills and finishing with a classy .500 attack percentage (13-2—22). Rounding out the team's double-figure terminators was freshman Leah Saunders with 11 put-aways. Sophomore Elyse Thompson tied a school record with 35 digs, helping the Eagles to a 97-92 edge in that category. Over the course of the three matches and 14 sets of play at the Invitational, Thompson averaged 6.57 digs. Arles registered a personal-best 32 assists while Porter contributed 23 assists and 14 digs. The win represented the first time since October 17, 2015, that Emory had emerged victorious after falling behind by a 0-2 count.
McKnight and Saunders both garnered all-tournament honors.