BRISTOL, TN – The Emmanuel Women's Volleyball team faced the Converse University Valkyries tonight in the Conference Semifinals. The Lions jumped out to an early lead, taking the first two sets, 25-20, 26-24. The Valkyries would respond, taking the third set 25-21 but the LIons would close out the game with a 25-15 win in set four to earn the 3-1 win and a spot in the title game! 

The Lions jumped out to an early 11-3 lead in the first set on kills by Cailin Pritchard and errors by the Valkyries. Kills by Brooke Lee and Faith Kelly would push the Lions lead to 17-10 midway through the set. Converse responded well, cutting the Lions lead to 24-20, but a service error by the Valkyries would end the set, giving the Lions a 25-20 win. 

The second set saw the Lions take an early 9-4 lead on kills by Kelly, Pritchard and Lee along with a service ace by Isabel Miller. Kills by Marusa Pesut and a service ace by Sami Gambill made it 13-6, Lions midway through the set. The Valkyries responded, tying the set at 18-18 and taking the lead 20-19 late in the set. The Lions rallied on kills by Ellie Jackson, Brianna Bigelow and Lee late to take the lead, 25-24. A kill by Pritchard would give the Lions the second set win, 26-24. 

The teams traded points and the lead early in the 3^rd set. Converse pushed ahead, 9-6 but the Lions would respond quickly with kills by Faith Kelly to tie it at 10-10. The Lions would take the lead, 15-14 on an attack error by the Valkyries but Converse would tie things back up at 16-16 on a service ace. With the set tied at 19-19, the Valkyries closed the set out strong to earn the 25-21 win. 

The Lions took an early 8-3 lead in the fourth set on kills by Jackson, Pritchard and Bigelow. Emmanuel continued to pull ahead on errors by the Valkyries to make it 16-8 midway through the set. A service ace by Sami Gambill and kills by Jackson and Lee made it 23-14, Lions late in the set and a final kill by Lee put the exclamation point on the set, giving the Lions a 25-15 win in set four, sealing a 3-1 victory.

Overall, the Lions had 50 kills, 48 assists. 4 aces, 9 blocks and 69 digs.

Brooke Lee led the way with 18 kills, with Cailin Pritchard adding 11. Marusa Pesut had 40 assists on the night, with Ellie Jackson leading the team with 18 digs. Isabel Miller had 2 of the Lions 4 service aces, and Pritchard picked up 3.5 blocks. 

Next up, the Lions will face North Greenville in the Conference Championship game tomorrow at 3PM.

For more information on Emmauel University athletics, visit goeulions.com.