The Emory volleyball team won two of three nail-biting games on Oct. 18 and 20 with wins against Hendrix College (Ark.) and Case Western Reserve University (Ohio) and a loss against No. 3 University of Chicago (UChicago). The loss broke a first-place tie with UChicago and resulted in a second-place finish in the University Athletic Association (UAA) regular season. The Eagles will now look forward to the UAA Championships in Chicago on Nov. 8.
Despite the nearly unprecedented 13-match winning streak coming to an end, Head Coach Jenny McDowell believes the team prefers to be challenged like they were this weekend.
“We know every single [UAA] match is going to be a tough one, and we actually embrace that challenge,” McDowell wrote in a text message to the Wheel. “This weekend was very similar to our first [UAA] weekend, and I think our players loved the challenge.”
The weekend began with a non-conference home match against a resilient Hendrix team. Despite a seemingly comfortable 3-0 set scoreline in favor of the Eagles, the first two sets were only decided by an average of three points. Emory created more separation in the third set with a 25-17 win, but was still held to a below-season average .225 hitting percentage. Senior outside hitter Morgan McKnight, who recorded her 1000th career kill, and sophomore outside hitter Tara Martin carried the hitting load for the Eagles with a combined 29 kills.
Freshman setter Cassie Srb said that team chemistry is crucial for the team to be successful in tight games.
“We really focus on maintaining communication and eye contact,” Srb wrote in a text message to the Wheel. “We need to continue playing as one unit instead of individuals.”
Emory then traveled to Cleveland for their last two UAA regular season matches. The top-to-bottom strength of the UAA was on full display as the Case Western team, who ranked fifth in the conference at the start, gave the No. 1 Eagles all they could handle. After dropping the first set 25-18, Case Western fought off a late Eagles surge to win the second set 25-23 and tie the match. In the third set, Emory took a 24-20 lead and looked certain to regain a one-set advantage before Case Western strung together three straight points to reduce the deficit to one. On the next point, Case Western blew their chance to tie the set with a service error, and the Eagles came away with a 25-23 win.
Despite coming away victorious in the set, McDowell said she would have preferred the team winning the set a different way.
“I actually don’t like to win the sets [on a service error] because we would love to finish every set on our own play,” McDowell wrote. “But we can’t control what the other team does.”
In the fourth set, the script was flipped, and Emory found themselves down 19-17 late. Unlike Case Western in the prior set, the Eagles capitalized on their chance to comeback and won eight of the last 10 points to win the set 25-21 and take the match. Srb had an impressive allround match with 53 assists, 11 digs, and five kills. Senior libero Elyse Thompson led the defense with 23 digs and McKnight led the attack with 18 kills.
Against UChicago, Srb believes the team managed their emotions well throughout their preparation despite coming into the game knowing it would determine the UAA regular season champions.
“We were definitely excited to play UChicago,” Srb wrote. “But we respect every team we play and we treated UChicago as we would any other team.”
The game lived up to the lofty expectations of a clash between two of the best programs in the country as most of the sets were won by the finest of margins. In the first set, UChicago proved their mettle by overcoming a 21-14 deficit to win 25-22. In the second set, Emory proved capable of similar feats and won seven straight points to even the score at 19-19. The two sides were not to be put away easily and, after an arduous 16-point back-and-forth, Emory prevailed 28-26. The third set saw more of the same tight, competitive play, and UChicago took the set 25-23. They carried that momentum into the fourth set and clinched the victory with a 25-19 score.
Extraordinary stat lines were plentiful on both sides as both teams had four players with double-digit kills, four players with double-digit digs and both primary setters with 49 assists. For Emory, team leaders were junior right-side hitter Leah Saunders with 15 kills and Thompson with 19 digs.
McDowell recognizes UChicago as a force to be reckoned with but still believes the Eagles have what it takes to beat them if they make some adjustments.
“[UChicago] obviously are very talented team and well coached,” McDowell wrote. “I think we have to eliminate our unforced errors, and that’s gonna put us in much better shape going forward.”
McDowell added that this rivalry is far from over and the teams could easily meet again with higher stakes to play for.
“As we were in the middle of a match I thought to myself this is a potential national championship game in four weeks,” McDowell wrote.
Up next, the Eagles will host a string of four games between Oct. 25 and Oct. 27 as part of the Emory Invitational.
