The No. 8-ranked Emory volleyball team came away with a pair of wins over South Region opponents on Saturday.  The Eagles ventured to the campus of Birmingham Southern where they rallied for a 3-2 win over No. 20 Hendrix (21-25, 25-21, 25-15, 16-25, 15-13) before closing out the day with a 3-0 triumph (25-20, 25-17, 25-19) over the host Panthers.  Emory has won its last seven matches and stands 11-3.

In a defensive battle that saw the Warriors and Eagles combine for over 200 digs, Emory ended the contest hitting .160 (59-29—187) compared to HC's mark of .121 (53-28—206).   After splitting the first four sets, Emory found itself staring at a 10-3 deficit in the fifth game.  The Warriors still maintained an 11-5 cushion before the Eagles exploded for an 8-0 run, which saw senior Jessica Holler pick up two kills and freshman Sarah Porter a kill and a service ace, to claim a 13-11 edge. Hendrix scored two of the next three points to creep back to within 13-14, but a termination by sophomore Sydney Leimbach accounted for the match's final point.  Holler chalked up 16 kills and hit .394 (16-3—33) while senior Kathryn Trinka pounded out 14 successful attack attempts.  Emory recorded an astounding 112 digs, the program's third-highest match total, and was paced in that department by freshman Andie McKinnon's mark of 33, tying the school's third-highest individual match output, while senior Sarah Maher racked up a career-best 21.

Leimbach and Holler were key factors in the win over BSC, with Leimbach leading all players with 12 kills to go along with a .647 hitting percentage (12-1—17) and Holler picking up 11 terminations and finishing with an attack effort of .429 (11-2—21), her sixth consecutive match of hitting .300 or higher.  In addition, the pair was a formidable presence at the net as Leimbach contributed four block assists and Holler three. McKinnon led the team with 15 digs while sophomore Mira Grinsfelder picked up 13.

Next up for Emory is the University Athletic Association Round Robin I, Oct. 1-2, at Carnegie Mellon University.