The Royals rarely trailed in Sunday's Senior Day sweep of ODAC rival Randolph. The win pushed EMU's volleyball women to 2-2 on the young season, tied for sixth in the conference standings.

Eastern Mennonite's offense was unstoppable, hitting .354 as a team. It was the highest match total for the program since hitting .373 two seasons ago in a 3-0 win over Cairn.

After scoring the match's first two points off Randolph errors, EMU got two kills and two aces from Paris Hutchinson (Waynesboro, Va./Wilson Memorial) to jump to an 8-2 lead. The WildCats scraped back with 9-7 before the women took off, getting back-to-back kills from Heather Phelps (Moseley, Va./Cosby) to clinch a 25-14 score.

The Royals scored the first four in the second set and again had an 8-2 lead. Randolph never got closer than four points from there as EMU ran to another win, 25-17.

Once again in the third, Eastern Mennonite jumped to an 8-2 lead, but this time the WildCats had the fight to get back in it. The Royals used both of their timeouts during an 8-1 run by Randolph, giving the visitors their first lead of the day at 19-18. The teams traded leads with EMU serving for match point at 24-22. The WildCats answered with a 3-0 run to get ahead and serve for set point at 25-24. The Royals then fended off set point four times before connecting on three straight to win the match. Hannah Johnson (Staunton, Va./Wilson Memorial) did the honors by finding the back corner in the 30-28 final.

Hutchinson notched her first collegiate double double in a fantastic all-around game. She had career highs with 14 kills, 15 digs and three service aces. Additionally, she came close to a program record by getting her kills on just 22 swings with no errors for a hitting percentage of .636. The EMU record for hitting percentage in a match is .688, set by Hall of Honor member Becky Miller in 1991.

Sarah East (Washington, Va./Rappahannock County) was nearly as effective, hitting nine kills on 17 attacks for a .471 clip. Johnson added eight kills, three aces and a pair of solo blocks, while Phelps had seven kills. Tori Wigley (Elkton, Va./East Rockingham) racked up 37 assists, a new career high for a three-set match. She is averaging 10.15 assists per set this year.

Libero Bethany Shultz (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) had 12 digs.

Eastern Mennonite's women head to Emory, Va., this Saturday for a tri-match hosted by Emory & Henry. The Royals get the host Wasps at 2:00pm followed by Guilford College at 4:00pm.

Senior Recognition
Following the sweep of Randolph, the Royals honored four players as part of Senior Recognition Day. Tori Wigley and Hannah Johnson are each in their last season of playing for EMU, while Amy Goodman graduated in December and Delanie Miller is retiring due to injury.