The No. 14 ranked Emory University volleyball team closed out the East-West Classic on Saturday, splitting two matches against national powerhouses No. 7 Johns Hopkins University and No. 1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
The Eagles came out in a furry and took care of business in the first match of the day, taking down the Blue Jays in straight sets 25-23, 25-12, 26-24 before battling the top-ranked Athenas across four sets in a narrow defeat 18-25, 16-25, 25-23, 26-28.
Sophomore Alana Dawson led the team in the split, totaling 26 kills including a game-high 17 against CMS. She earned All-Tournament Team honors at the conclusion of play for her efforts on Saturday to go along with a season-high 18 terminations Friday night versus No. 2 Trinity.
Emory hit at a blistering .268 clip (41-15—97) in the three-setter to open the day with freshman Kaya Monrose posting a team-best 11 kills while hitting .381. Dawson chipped in with nine kills with junior Carly Wallace recording seven. Freshman Olivia Rabinowitz doled out 19 of her 40 assists on the day with sophomore Sarah Luong adding 16 in addition to nine digs. Junior Amanda Meyer was also a force at the net, totaling two solo blocks and two block assists.
Following the win the Eagles found themselves in early trouble in the night cap, falling behind two sets to CMS. Despite the hole, Emory regrouped and was able to swipe the third set that featured back-and-forth play. The Eagles nearly forced a fifth set, rallying from 24-21 down in the fourth to take the lead at 25-24 thanks in large part to two thunderous blocks at 23-24 by Meyer and Monrose and to break the tie at 24-24 by Meyer and sophomore Lily Martin. However, CMS seized momentum to take three of four points to clinch the match.
The Athenas posted a .346 attack in the match with three players notching double-digit kill totals. For the Eagles, Dawson's 17 terminations led both teams with Wallace and Martin adding 11 and 10, respectively.
At the end of the tournament, eight players including Dawson were honored on the East-West Classic All-Tournament Team: Jenna Holmes (MVP) and Dede Carranza from CMS, Simone Adam from Johns Hopkins, Trinity's Sara Flynn, Tufts' Maya Lightfoot, Michaela Bach from WashU, Maci Haddad from CLU and Abby Jones from UT-Dallas.
Emory, now standing at 5-2 on the season, will get underway with the UAA schedule next weekend as the team travels to St. Louis, MO for the first of three conference round robins this year.