GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum women's volleyball team strung together consecutive wins for the first time in nearly a month with a four-set victory over league newcomer Emory & Henry on Friday night (Oct. 29).
The Pioneers (11-11, 10-6 SAC) collected the match win by scores of 25-15, 25-14, 21-25, 25-23 to withstand the swarm of the Wasps (4-21, 3-12 SAC).
Hannah Watson is credited with more total blocks (9) than Tusculum had as a team (8). In the offensive portion, Julissa Hopgood was the lone Wasp to record double-digit kills with 10. Marissa Snapp led the setting duo with 16 assists, ahead of Payton Rolfsen's 11. Libero Libby Bickelhaupt guided Emory & Henry with three service aces and 26 digs. Camden Jones also reached double-figures in digs (10). Alongside Watson, Brianna Hogan and Gracyn Miller both added four blocks.
Emiah Burrowes stuffed the stat sheet with 16 kills, two assists, two aces, 11 digs, and three total blocks (two solo, one assist). Carli Pigza registered 10 kills, followed by Peyton Gash (9), McKayla Willey (5), Raven Chance (5), Martina Foster (4), and Samantha Bunch (1). The setters combined for 34 assists: Elise Carmichael (18) and Bunch (16). Joining Burrowes in the aces category were Bunch (2), Pigza (1), Carmichael (1), and Lauren Xayavong (1). Carly Sosnowski averaged nearly seven digs per set, totaling 27 across the four frames. Bunch notched 10 digs to also end in double-digits. Foster finished with a team-high five total blocks (all assists), while Willey set a new career-high with four blocks (all assists).
Emory & Henry hit .078 as a team with 37 kills and 26 errors on 141 total attempts. Tusculum hit .166 with 50 kills, 24 errors, and 157 total attacks. The Pioneers led the match in digs (72-70) and assists (45-34), while the Wasps held the advantage in aces (8-7) and blocks (13-8).
The Wasps had enough defense at the net to cause a few issues for the Pioneers, but the Emory & Henry offense could not do its share.
Tusculum held Emory & Henry to an even hitting percentage in set one, despite the Wasps recording both blocks in the frame. Burrowes led the match with five early kills, aided by a 3-for-6 start by Gash. Sosnowski held up the defense with eight digs. The Pioneers hit their strike at the 7-6 mark, winning 10-of-12 to shoot out to an insurmountable edge.
The Pioneers picked up where they left off to begin set two, winning five of the first six scores of the frame. Yet, the Wasps were pesky, countering with a three-point run. Bunch recorded the first two aces for TU as part of a six-score spurt. Tusculum reignited the onslaught tallying five points in a six-point span to lead 19-10. A solo block by Burrowes had the crowd on its feet as the home squad claimed set two 25-14.
Hoping to avoid being swept, the Wasps were granted the opening score on a Pioneer miscue. A block by Willey and Foster drew the score even. E&H eked out a 4-3 edge, leading into a stellar 7-0 run by Tusculum. Burrowes landed back-to-back aces in the stretch. Emory & Henry had fight still left in them, retaliating with five-straight scores. The Wasps kept their hands high and served short to record nine points on aces (5) and blocks (4). Down 21-16, Tusculum wrangled the advantage down to two (22-20) on a Xayavong ace. But the Wasps fought off the broom.
Burrowes led the way with four kills, with Pigza and Gash tallying a trio. Willey and Foster each recorded two blocks as well. There were nine ties and a pair of lead changes as Emory & Henry looked to push the match to a decisive fifth set. An overturned call tied set four at 16-all, instead of 17-15 in the visitors' advantage. A diving save by Burrowes denied another block by the Wasps, leading to a kill by Willey. The block by Willey and Chance tied the score once again at 21. Burrowes became the main source of the offense in the latter stages, but consecutive attack errors by the Wasps swung the lead to the Pioneers, and ultimately the match.
Tusculum wraps up its home slate with a Senior Day matchup against UVA Wise (5-16, 1-14 SAC) on Saturday (Oct. 29). Seven Pioneers will be recognized before the 2 p.m. match: two graduate students (Carly Sosnowski and Carli Pigza), two juniors graduating early (Kyndall Kalb and Raven Chance), three true seniors (Lauren Xayavong, Elise Carmichael, and Emiah Burrowes).
