FRANKLIN SPRINGS, GA – The Emmanuel Women's Volleyball team hosted Middle Georgia State University this afternoon in their home opener. The first set was tightly contested to start, but the Lions pulled away late to earn the 25-15 win. Emmanuel went onto win the final two sets, 25-16, 25-19 to earn the 3-0 sweep. With the win, the Lions improve to 1-3 on the season.
Emmanuel took an early 4-1 lead to start the first set, with kills by
Brianna Bigelow and
Skye Graham, with an ace by
Ellie Jackson. The Knights rallied to tie the set at 6-6, but the Lions responded well with an 11-2 run to take a 17-8 lead, on kills by Graham and
Faith Kelly. Although the Knights made several key plays late, the Lions finished strong to earn the 25-15 set one win.
The Lions carried their momentum into the 2
nd set, taking an early 7-2 lead on kills by Graham,
Ellie Jackson, and aces by
Marusa Pesut and Graham. A 6-1 run by the Lions midway through the set pushed their lead to 16-6. Middle Georgia State responded to cut the lead to 18-11, but the Lions finished strong with kills by
Brooke Lee and
Natalie Wilson to jump back out ahead 24-14. A kill by
Asia Queen put the exclamation point on the set, giving the Lions a 25-15 win in set two.
The third set saw the Knights jump out to a 5-2 lead. The Lions responded with a 6-0 run, made up of aces by
Marusa Pesut and kills by Graham and
Faith Kelly to make it 8-5 Lions. A 4-0 run by the Lions pushed their lead to 12-7, but the Knights rallied midway through the set to pull within two points, 19-17.
Maryn Barrow and
Brooke Lee came on strong to end the set with multiple kills to earn the Lions a 25-19 set three win, and a 3-0 sweep.
Overall, the Lions had 34 kills, 8 aces, 4 blocks, 30 assists and 66 digs.
Skye Graham led the way with 12 kills on the afternoon, with
Brooke Lee adding 5.
Marusa Pesut was strong from the service line with 4 aces, with
Isabel Miller adding 2.
Brianna Bigelow, Graham and Natlie Wilson each collected a block for the Lions, with Pesut adding 27 assists.
Brooke Lee led the Lions in digs with 15, with
Asia Queen (11) and
Skye Graham (10) finishing with double digit digs.
Next up the Lions will travel to Mars Hill to take on the Mars Hill University Tigers tomorrow at 6PM. For more information on Emmanuel University athletics, visit goeulions.com.
