EMORY, Va. -- A ride home from a long road trip to Greensboro, North Carolina and Emory, Virginia was a lot more enjoyable for the Virginia Wesleyan College volleyball team on Saturday.

The reason? Back-to-back 3-0 Old Dominion Athletic Conference victories over the host Quakers of Guilford College and the Wasps of Emory & Henry College.  The victories improved VWC's overall record to 19-6 and its ODAC mark to 8-2, tying the Marlins for third place in the current league standings.

The Marlins' sweep of the Wasps took place less than 24 hours after Emory & Henry pushed league-leading Randolph-Macon College to a five-set match. R-MC won 3-2, taking the win with a 16-14 fifth set decision.  But, Virginia Wesleyan needed only three sets for the win, posting 25-17, 25-19, 25-21 decisions. The Marlins started their weekend with a 25-16, 25-17, 25-13 win over Guilford.

Competition against Emory & Henry included 22 ties and eight lead changes, with VWC taking the last change in set one for a 13-12 lead on a kill by Kala Guy (Fishersville/Wilson Memorial).  The Marlins pushed out to a 21-15 lead helped by kills from Tempe Martens (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) and Guy, and closed out the first set win on a 3-0 run.

Set two was a back-and-forth situation until a Martens kill gave VWC the lead for good at 17-16.  The Marlins led 19-16 before Kim Caudill (Galax, Va./Carroll County) hit back-to-back kills to pull the Wasps within a point, but VWC answered with a with a 3-0 run for a 22-18 lead. Kerry Johnson (Richmond/J.R. Tucker) put down a kill and consecutive aces to close out the set win.

Emory & Henry bolted out to a 6-2 lead in the third set behind Nicole Tesh and Hannah Stewart (Boone, N.C./Watauga), but VWC produced a 4-0 run to tie the score. The Wasps regained the lead and held on until VWC tied the score at 16 and took the lead on a 4-0 run.  The Wasps closed within a point three times down the stretch, but Virginia Wesleyan closed out with a 2-0 run on a kill and ace from Guy.

Guy finished with 11 kills and 10 digs, Taylor Allen (Bowie, Md./Bladensburg Elizabeth Seton) followed with 10 kills, three aces and four block assists.  Johnson added nine kills and Martens finished with seven. Mallory Slade (Burlington, N.C./Eastern Alamance) led VWC with 18 assists and Kirstin Sessoms (Virginia Beach/Bayside) added 13.

Stewart led E&H with nine kills, Kelly Mae Kerlin (Franklin, Tenn./Currey Ingram) finished with eight digs, and Maleah Neely (Hillsville, Va./Carroll County) recorded 26 assists.

Virginia Wesleyan was more dominant against Guilford, taking the first set lead at 12-11 on a Martens kill. Torey Garin (Virginia Beach/Floyd E. Kellam) and Johnson helped VWC push out to a 20-14 lead, before the Marlins closed out the set win on a 5-2 run including kills by Guy and Martens.

The Marlins took the lead in set two at 10-9 on an Allen kill. Malikah French  (Durham, N.C./School of the Arts) and Brooke Herr (Oak Island, N.C./South Brunswick) helped the Quakers stay close until VWC ignited a 7-2 run to take the set win.

In set three Virginia Wesleyan took the lead at 4-3 and started to pull away with a 9-0 run with the help of Allen, Martens, and Guy.  VWC led 20-9 en route to the closing win.

Johnson led the Marlins with 10 kills, Martens finished with nine and Guy added eight. Marin Crowder (Charlottesville /Crozet Western Albemarle) led with 10 digs, Allen recorded four block assists, and Sessoms posted 22 assists.

Kelsey Ruehling (Three Rivers, Calif./Woodlake Union) paced Guilford with nine kills, Meredith Foscue (Asheboro, N.C./Asheboro) added five digs, and Taylor Whitley (China Grove, N.C./Jesse C. Carson) posted 17 assists.

Virginia Wesleyan closes its regular season league schedule on Tuesday, Oct. 23, hosting the league leading Yellow Jackets of Randolph-Macon College at 7 p.m.

--AMDG--