Box Score The Emory University volleyball program fought a tough five-set battle against the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas on Friday evening in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
 
The No. 5 ranked Eagles improve to 4-0 to open the season and were led by a trio of seniors in the win. Seniors Kate LaRocco and Kaya Monrose dominated the offense for the Eagles combining for 39 kills both notching career highs with 22 and 17 respectively. Fellow senior Olivia Rabinowitz also reached a career-high totaling 49 assists in the matchup.
 
The first set was a battle with the Eagles and Athenas going point-for-point to a 3-3 tie. Emory pulled away with a 6-5 lead before a 3-0 stint from CMS to take a 8-6 lead. The Eagles were then able to tie it up again on back to back service aces from junior Jillian Massenat but the Athenas continued to keep up for a 13-13 tie. The Eagles followed with a 9-3 run highlighted by kills from teammates Leneia Niko and Sophie Zerrouki for a 22-16 lead. Both teams went 3-3 at the end of the set for a 25-19 win for Emory in set one.
 
Set two started just like the first with a back and forth battle between the offenses on both sides. The Eagles were able to take a slight 5-3 lead after a kill from Monrose followed by a series of attack errors from CMS for a 9-6 Emory lead. The Athenas followed with a 4-1 run to tie the set up at 10 apiece before pulling away with a 12-10 lead. The battle continued back and forth with each team working to reclaim the lead. After CMS held a 24-17 lead, the Eagles fought back with three straight points with more kills from LaRocco, but the Athenas claimed set two, 25-20.
 
Emory worked hard at the beginning of the third set to jump out to an early start taking a 10-4 lead highlighted by kills from senior Eliane Silberman. The Athenas kept fighting but the Eagles kept hold of an 19-12 lead towards the end of the set. CMS answered with nine straight points to take a 21-19 lead over Emory. The end of the set saw seven more ties before kills from Silberman and teammate Olivia Rabinowitz claimed the third set for the Eagles, 29-27.
 
CMS took the early lead in the start of the fourth set taking advantage of attack errors from Emory's offense to hold a slight 8-5 lead. The Eagles fought their way back with a 7-1 run highlighted by kills from senior Maggie Regan and service aces from Massenat to reclaim a 12-9 lead. The set was tied again at 13 apiece and saw five more ties before the Athenas pulled away with a 23-20 lead. Emory fought back to tie the set at 24 apiece but CMS took back-to-back kills for a 26-24 win and forced a fifth set.
 
The Athenas got off to a strong start in the fifth set but Emory kept up with the battle before taking a 5-4 lead. CMS answered with three points to take a 7-5 lead but a kill from Silberman brought the Eagles within one point of the Athenas. CMS was able to reach eight points first with an 8-6 lead switching sides of the court.
 
Following the switch, both teams continued battling point-for-point until the Eagles were finally able to claim an 18-17 advantage. The Athenas were unable to keep up with the momentum of Emory and an attack error from CMS ended the match with a 19-17 score in the fifth set.
 
The Eagles will face off against UW-Oshkosh at 11:00 AM EST and Marian University at 1:00 PM EST tomorrow, September 6.