Playing in their first ODAC Tournament contest since 2017, the EMU volleyball women met up with the tall task of top-seeded Washington and Lee. The Royals played well in Wednesday's road match, but still came up on the short end, 3-0.

The Royals (4-9) came out quickly, getting back-to-back kills from senior Hannah Johnson (Staunton, Va./Wilson Memorial) and grabbing a 3-0 lead. But nationally-ranked W&L (14-0) responded with the next six points and took over with their defensive net play. The Generals consistently tacked points onto their lead to win the opener, 25-10.

Led by Johnson, Eastern Mennonite quickly proved they came to play in the second. She had four of her team's first eight points, forging an 8-8 tie. The teams traded leads all the way to a 17-17 tie after a double block from Heather Phelps (Moseley, Va./Cosby) and Sarah East (Washington, Va./Rappahannock County). But the Generals scored the next three points and then struck a five-point run to close on an 8-1 run to win, 25-18.

EMU scored twice to open the third set before Washington and Lee rattled off 11 straight. The lead carried until 22-11, when the Royals rallied. The women took off on an 8-1 run, capped by back-to-back aces from Tori Wigley (Elkton, Va./East Rockingham) to get within 23-19. But the ODAC's top seed held on with two quick points to finish off the night, 25-19.

The Royals hit .118 in the loss and gave up 11 service aces. W&L also had eight blocks.

Johnson was the leader in final collegiate match, landing 13 kills along with eight digs. In her three-year career, the outside racked up 630 kills with an average of 3.18 kills per set. Johnson ends in style, taking over the EMU Record for career kills per set, breaking Hall of Honor member Becky Miller's mark of 3.13. Johnson also had 700 digs (3.54/set), 75 aces and 60 blocks over her career.

Wigley finished the match with 24 assists and eight digs. She was second in the ODAC this year in both assists and assists per set, and closes her career 1178 assists, good for No. 7 in EMU Career Assists.

Paris Hutchinson (Waynesboro, Va./Wilson Memorial) added six kills and nine digs. East had five kills without an error along with three blocks. Andrea Troyer (Harrisonburg, Va./Broadway) also had three blocks.

Brynne Gould led Washington and Lee with 20 kills, nine digs and two blocks.