Franklin Springs, GA – The Emmanuel Women's Volleyball team hosted Erskine College tonight in conference action. The Flying Fleet took the early lead, earning the first set win, 25-23 but the Lions rallied to win the next three sets, 25-10, 25-17, 25-10. With the win, the Lions improve to 7-5 on the season, 5-1 in conference play.
The first set started out with a 6-0 run by the Flying Fleet to take the early lead. The Lions rebounded with kills by
Ellie Jackson and
Natalie Wilson and aces by Jackson to cut the Erskine lead to 14-12 midway through the set. The two teams traded points, but Erskine kept the lead, taking the set in a close one, 25-23.
The Lions rallied in the 2
nd set, jumping out to an early 9-2 lead on service aces by
Ellie Jackson and kills by
Brianna Bigelow and
Isabella Reyes. The Lions kept the foot on the gas, with kills by
Cailin Pritchard, Reyes and an ace by
Brooke Lee pushing the Lions lead to 13-4. Emmanuel continued to roar, outscoring the Flying Fleet 12-6 the rest of the way to earn the 25-10 win in set two.
Emmanuel carried that momentum into set three, taking an early 4-0 lead on kills by Wilson and Reyes. The Flying Fleet cut the Lions lead to 7-5 on a service error, but the Lions used kills by
Ellie Jackson and service aces by
Marusa Pesut to push their lead back up to 10-5. Kills by Wilson, Pritchard and Reyes pushed the Lions lead to 18-8 midway through the set, and although Erskine kept the set close, the Lions came away with the 25-17 win in set three.
Set four saw the Lions jump out ahead 10-2 on kills by Reyes, Wilson, Bigelow and Jackson. Midway through the set the Flying Fleet cut the Lions lead to 15-8, but the Lions rallied to outscore the Fleet 10-2 the rest of the way to earn the set four win, 25-10 and earn the 3-1 victory.
Overall, the Lions had 56 kills, 54 assists, 12 aces, 59 digs, and 8 blocks.
Three Lions had double digit kills on the night, with
Ellie Jackson leading the way with 20.
Natalie Wilson added 14 kills for the Lions and
Isabella Reyes contributed 10.
Ellie Jackson led the team with 7 aces, with
Marusa Pesut adding 3. Pesut also led the Lions in assists with 44, while
Natalie Wilson added 3 blocks on the night.
Asia Queen had 14 digs to lead the team.
Next up, the Lions will travel to Mount Olive, NC to take on the University of Mount Olive on Friday at 6PM. For more information on Emmanuel University athletics, visit goeulions.com.
