The No. 1-ranked Emory volleyball team established a bit of program history on Friday as it picked up a pair of wins on the opening day of the Emory National Invitational.  The Eagles recorded a 3-1 triumph (25-19, 25-19, 22-25, 25-17) over Franklin & Marshall in their first outing before registering an impressive 3-0 decision (26-24, 25-21, 25-20) over No. 9-ranked Cal Lutheran University.  The two victories enabled Emory to run its record to 12-0, the first time than an Eagle volleyball team has won their opening 12 matches in a season, bettering the previous best start of 10-0 (four occasions).

Junior Kathryn Trinka topped the Emory offensive effort in both affairs, blasting away for a career-high 17 kills to go along with a .457 attack percentage (17-1—35) against the Diplomats of F&M before ringing up 13 terminations against CLU.  Trinka has led the squad in kills in 11 contests this year and has 11 outings of double-figures in that department.   Junior Shannon Nugent was virtually unstoppable in the F&M bout, tying her personal best with 11 terminations while registering a blistering .733 hitting percentage (11-0—15).   Junior Sarah Maher hit .333 (20-4—48) over the two matches, picking up 11 kills against Franklin and Marshall and nine against Cal Lutheran.  Junior Jessica Holler returned to the lineup in strong fashion, manufacturing a .411 hitting percentage (17-3—34) and chalking up six block assists over the course of her day's work.  Freshman libero Becky Breuer continued her solid defensive play that helped the Eagles limit both opponents to less than a .200 hitting percentage, leading all players in digs in both matches, 19 against F&M and 21 against Cal Lutheran.

Senior Sydney Miles doled out 48 assists and helped Emory hit .288 (55-17—132) against F&M before finishing with 40 against the Regals, upping her career total to 4,861, good for third place on the school's all-time list and just 17 from tying Amy Shapiro's (1996-99) No. 2 mark. 

Emory will face a pair of ranked opponents on Saturday, starting with No. 2-ranked Calvin at noon, followed by a 4:00 match-up against No. 10 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.