Despite jumping to a 2-0 lead, Eastern Mennonite's volleyball women suffered a disappointing 3-2 loss at home to ODAC rival Emory & Henry.  The Royals have now lost a season-worst four in a row and are 6-9 overall and 2-3 in the conference.

The women played some of their best ball of the year in the first two sets.  In each game, they hit .250 or better, controlled the net defensively, and took over in the middle stages of the game.  The Royals won 25-16 in both games to jump to a 2-0 lead.

EMU again surged in the middle of game three, pushing up 21-17 to put the visitors on the ropes.  But the Wasps scored four in a row to tie the score, then after a point by the women, tacked on another four to steal a 25-22 decision.

Trailing 20-17 in game four, the Royals came around and had the score tied at 21-21 and 22-22.  But Emory & Henry got a kill and back-to-back blocks to win again, 25-22.

Game five was a wild ride.  The Wasps scored the first three points, but EMU surged in front 8-6.  After the score was tied at 10-10, the Royals took a 14-11 lead on a big double block from McKenna Carter (Waynesboro, Va./Stuarts Draft) and Kayley Argenbright (Fishersville, Va./Wilson Memorial) to set up match point.  But Emory & Henry's offense took over, scoring five unanswered points on kills to shock EMU with a 16-14 score.

The Royals hit a solid .178 for the game, and had a season high 11 total blocks.  Carter led the way out of the middle, putting down 14 kills to go with a solo block and six assists.  D Probst (Willow Street, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) had 14 kills while Argenbright came in with 10 and three service aces.  Dani Driver (Cheverly, Md./Elizabeth Seton) had 45 set assists and a team high 19 digs.

Rachel Kennel (Parkesburg, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) had 13 digs and four blocks.  Katie Miller (San Antonio, Tex./Brandeis) picked up 18 digs.

The women will try to rebound from the tough loss with three straight non-conference matches on the road.  They next head to southeast Pennsylvania to play at Alvernia Friday night and Lancaster Bible Saturday morning.