Marlins Split a Pair of Matches at EMU

HARRISONBURG, Va. -- The Virginia Wesleyan College volleyball team split a pair of matches on Saturday afternoon, defeating Eastern Mennonite University in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) match before falling to Ferrum College.

Eastern Mennonite - W, 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-20)

The Marlins won in straight sets against Eastern Mennonite University to extend their match win streak to seven and consecutive sets won to 21.

VWC had a huge advantage in the matchup with the Royals posting more kills that its counterparts, 37 to 23, while getting 12 points from service aces.

Tiffany Barrett led the Marlin charge with 13 kills to go with eight digs and two service aces. Kirstin Sessoms posted 19 assists and nine digs as Emilee Pierson tallied 13 assists and two service aces. Marin Crowder led VWC with 10 digs while Colleen Smith and Sessoms had three aces each.

Skyler Johnson had nine kills for EMU (4-6/0-2 ODAC) while Jasmine Johnson had 21 assists and 12 digs.

Ferrum - L, 1-3 (25-19, 25-23, 22-25, 25-17)

The Marlins' streak came to a close against Ferrum College with the four-set loss. VWC had just recently defeated Ferrum in three sets last weekend at the beginning of the Marlins' win streak.

The two teams battled throughout the first set and into the second with the Marlins maintaining an 11-8 lead early in the second set. Ferrum scored six-straight points to take a 14-11 lead behind kills from Hayley Williams, Jessica Turner, and Jordan Joyce.

The third set was tied at 16 when the Marlins went on a 9-6 run to capture their lone set victory against the Panthers. Kristina Scott had two kills during the stretch.

First-year Hannah Weber had a career day with seven kills, 11 digs, and two blocks in the match. Barrett had 10 kills and 21 blocks while Scott finished with nine kills. Sessoms led the Marlins with 24 assists as Pierson added 16 on the afternoon.

Hannah Helbert had 16 kills for Ferrum (4-4) while Cheyenne Strickland and Emily Danner had 19 assists each.

Virginia Wesleyan (9-5/2-0) travels to Salisbury University Tuesday night for a 7 p.m. non-conference start.