DUE WEST, SC – The Emmanuel Women's Volleyball team traveled to Due West, SC tonight to take on Erskine College in their final conference matchup of the season. The Lions jumped out to an early lead, taking the first set 25-21. The second set was a battle, with the Lions needing extra time to win it, 26-24. Emmanuel then carried the momentum into the third set, winning it 25-21 to earn the sweep. With the win, the Lions improve to 18-9 on the season, 15-5 in conference play.
The Flying Fleet jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the first set, but the Lions roared back to take the 6-5 lead on a service ace by
Ellie Jackson. The Lions pushed their lead to 15-9 on kills by Jackson,
Cailin Pritchard,
Isabella Reyes, and
Brianna Bigelow. With the Lions up 17-13, the Flying Fleet went on a 6-2 scoring run to tie the set at 19. Up 23-21, the Lions closed out the set strong scoring the final three points on a kill by Pritchard and attack errors by the Flying Fleet to earn the 25-21 win in set one.
Set two saw Erskine go up 8-3 early, but the Lions went on a 10-3 run made up of kills by Pritchard, Jackson and
Faith Kelly to take the 13-12 lead. The teams traded points the rest of the way, with Erskine keeping things close. The Lions pushed ahead 22-20 on a kill by Kelly, but Erskine tied things up at 24 all. The Lions closed things out on kills by Reyes and Jackson to take the set, 26-24.
Erskine took an early 5-3 lead in the third set, but the Lions answered back with a service ace by
Sami Gambill to take a 6-5 lead. A kill and an ace by
Marusa Pesut made it 9-6 Lions, but the Flying Fleet quickly cut the lead to 13-12 midway through the set. Service aces by Gambill and
Brooke Lee expanded the Lions lead to 18-13, Errors by the Flying Fleet and a kill by Jackson made it 21-14, but Erskine answered with a 5-0 run to make it 21-19, Lions. Kills by Kelly closed out the set for the Lions, giving Emmanuel a 25-21 win and the 3-0 sweep.
Overall, the Lions had 40 kills, 38 assists, 5 aces, 5 blocks, and 56 digs.
Ellie Jackson and
Faith Kelly led the way with 12 kills apiece, with
Marusa Pesut adding 33 assists.
Sami Gambill picked up 2 aces on the night, with
Brianna Bigelow leading the Lions in blocks with 2.5.
Asia Queen had 13 digs on the night with
Ellie Jackson adding 9.
With the sweep, the Lions locked in their fourth consecutive Southwest Division title and a top four seed in the Conference Carolinas Championship.The LIons will close out the regular season with a match at Georgia College & State University on Thursday at 6PM.
For more information on Emmanuel University athletics, visit goeulions.com.
