The Emory volleyball team is off to a hot start, with seven straight road wins to open the season en route to a number two national ranking. They'll make their home debut this weekend at the Emory Classic against Millsaps College (Miss.), California Lutheran University, Southwestern University (Texas) and Christopher Newport University (Va.).
The Eagles will open up the action on Friday against Millsaps at 3 p.m. Millsaps stands at 6-3 on the season and enters the match having won three of four matches at the Birmingham-Southern (Ala.) Tournament.
Cal Lutheran sports a 6-1 record and a number seven national ranking.
After a slow start, Southwestern has won its last six matches and stands at 7-1. The Pirates have been successful during their four match series in Sherman, Texas beating Southwestern Assemblies of God University (Texas) (3-0), Bacone College (Okla.) (3-0), Wheaton College (Ill.) (3-0) and Sul Ross State University (Texas) (3-0).
Cal Lutheran, ranked No.-7 in the American Volleyball Coaches' Association (AVCA) Top 25 Poll, will enter the Emory Classic with a 6-1 record after suffering a loss on Tuesday against No. 16-ranked in the NAIA Westmont College (Calif.) (3-0). Before the match, Cal Lutheran had four wins at the Cal Lu Fornia Invitational defeating No.9-ranked Puget Sound (3-1), UT-Dallas (3-0) on Friday and Texas Lutheran (3-0) on Saturday.
Emory stands 3-0 in the series with Millsaps, and Friday's game between the two teams will be the first match since 1999.
Emory has won 11 of 13 matches against the Christopher Newport Captains. The two met twice in the 2012 season with Emory winning (3-2) at the Trinity Invitational and CNU, recording a (3-2) win in the NCAA Regional Finals. Emory is 13-5 against Southwestern while the Pirates did win 3-2 over the Eagles at the Trinity Invitational last season.
Against Cal Lutheran, Emory has won all three matches, including their last match this past fall at the Trinity Invitational won (3-2).
The 2013 captains for the Emory volleyball team include senior Sarah Taub and juniors Cat McGrath and Kate Bowman. Other key players include junior Leah Jacobs, who played solidly at the Randolph-Macon Invitational as the Eagles' leader with 3.23 kills-per-set average. She is now tied with Kate Bowman for team lead at 15 kills at a season-high. Jacobs is ranked sixth among UAA players with her 3.32 kills-per-set average.
Junior middle Cat McGrath also leads the team heading into Emory Classic ranked among the UAA's top 10 players in three categories and is No. 3 for the league with a .374 hitting percentage. She ranks prominently for kills per set and blocks. Sophomore Taylor Erwin, an honorable-mention selection for conference and region teams last year, is the core of Emory's defense with her team-high 5.19 digs-per-set average. She ranks 21st on the school's all-time chart.
Erwin was named to the Courtyard Marriott Invitational All-Tournament Team after averaging 5.43 digs per set in contributing to the Eagles 3-0 record.
The team is looking forward to playing at the Woodruff P.E. Center where they have had considerable success over the years. The Eagles finished 13-2 on their home court with losses from Lee University (Tenn.) on Sept. 25 and Wittenberg (Ohio) on Oct. 26.
With the key eight-member freshman class complementing outside hitter Jessica Holler and sophomore setter Sydney Miles, Emory looks forward to a promising season.
– By Liza Atillasoy
Photo courtesy of Emory Athletics
