SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – In another marquee early season matchup, the Wittenberg volleyball team put together strong runs and looked the part for a third-ranked squad, but the eighth-ranked Emory Eagles took a four-set upset win off the Tigers in the Courtyard Marriott National Invitational on Saturday.
The Tigers hit the floor running after a sweep of Johns Hopkins opened the event Friday night. Sophomore Kara Seidenstricker (London, Ohio/Jonathan Alder) led Wittenberg to a 25-21 win in the first set with three aces, six kills and a .312 attack percentage. Emory responded by winning the next three sets, all closely contested, by scores of 25-22, 25-23 and 25-23. The Tigers fell to 1-1 on the season, while Emory improved to 2-0.
For the match, Seidenstricker and senior Andrea Behling (Columbus, Ind./North) led the attack with 10 kills apiece, Seidenstricker totalling four aces and Behling posting 15 digs, tied for the team lead.
Wittenberg matched Emory at the net with nine team blocks, led by two solo blocks and four assists by sophomore Bryanna Jay (Girard, Ohio/Girard), while sophomore Haley Mucha (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy Orange) chipped in with four assists.
Junior setter Meghan Vodopich (Canton, Ohio/Massillon Perry) delivered 31 assists in the match, while freshman libero Libbi Giuliano (Cincinnati, Ohio/McAuley) totalled 15 digs. Sophomore Brooke Barney (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) contributed nine kills.
Things were tight from the get-go as the Tigers and Eagles fought to a 14-14 deadlock in the first set, but Wittenberg built momentum in the second half, starting with a kill and an ace for Kara Seidenstricker that helped break it open. Over the final stretch, Emory fought back within one point on three occasions, but the Tigers answered each time with two kills from Seidenstricker and one by Bryanna Jay. The privilege of the finishing kill fell to Seidenstricker, who put the set away off an assist from Meghan Vodopich.
The momentum carried into the second set, where the Tigers raced out to a 9-5 lead, but Emory would not be held down for long. The Eagles mounted a 7-1 run over the next eight points and fended off a Wittenberg comeback that resulted in an 18-18 tie. Over the final sequence, Emory posted seven points while holding the Tigers to four.
Emory's momentum bled from the second into the third as the Eagles ran out to a 21-13 lead. It looked to be the visitors' set, but the Tigers began a stirring comeback by scoring eight of the next nine points, pulling within one point at 22-21. The run included points on five straight Libbi Giuliano serves, resulting in one ace, two kills for Brooke Barney and one for Haley Mucha, and two assists for Vodopich. The late surge fell only two points short: on match point at 24-23, Emory's Jessica Holler pounded a kill to end the third frame.
Emory's momentum, built in the second set and sustained in the third, finally slowed in the fourth set, but not for long enough. The contestants matched one another through the first 20 points, but the 10-10 tie broke in favor of the Eagles, who built a 15-11 lead. Wittenberg responded in earnest with three kills, including two from Jay, mixed in with several Emory errors to fight back to an 18-18 tie. It stayed close down the stretch as neither team got ahead by more than two points. Wittenberg's 22-20 lead dissolved back into a 22-22 tie, which stepped forward to a 23-23 tie. Emory's Leah Jacobs notched back-to-back kills to end the set and the match.
The Tigers have just a few hours to regroup before challenging St. Thomas at 5:30 p.m. today. The Tommies began the season ranked first in the nation coming off the NCAA Division III national championship in 2012, but fell to Emory in a five-set match Friday night by scores of 25-23, 25-20, 20-25, 16-25 and 15-11.