BRIDGEWATER, Va. - Bridgewater College rallied
from two sets down Saturday afternoon to defeat Emory & Henry
College, 3-2, in ODAC volleyball action.
The Wasps won the first two sets 25-19, 25-21, but the Eagles
rallied to even the score by winning the next two sets 29-27,
25-15. Bridgewater then won the exciting fifth set 19-17.
Senior setter Tricia Davis finished Saturday's contest with 43
sets and in the process establish a new career assists record at
Bridgewater. Davis now has 4,563 assists breaking the previous mark
of 3,548 held by Tiffany Tumer (1999-2002).
Katie Baker led the Eagles with 18 kills against the Wasps and
Erika Dirnagl added 15. Mandy Hill paced the team with nine blocks
and Baker added seven. Candice Guy and Casey O'Leary each finished
with 19 digs while Davis and Abby Platt added 18 digs each.
"It's always nice to see your players reach a milestone,"
Bridgewater head coach Greg Spector. "Tricia is one of the players
who never seeks out the accolades, she is just happy to keep
working to get better and make the team better."
Saturday's fifth set was similar to the fifth set earlier this
week when the Eagles lost in five to Lynchburg.
"In both matches, we were ahead 11-7 in the fifth
set," Spector said. "Today, the girls reached a little deeper.
When it was tough out there, when everyone was a little nervous, we
were still swinging. That was a huge step in the maturation process
of this team.
"We're still a team trying to find its natural rhythm and a
match like today's might help us," Spector continued. "After the
second set, we played hard. We didn't play out-of-this-world great,
but we played hard."
With the victory, Bridgewater improved to 6-9 overall and
4-2 in the ODAC. E&H is now 12-4 overall and 1-3 in the
conference.
"Emory & Henry is a vastly improved team. Their defense is
terrific. They really make you work hard for every point," Spector
said.
The Eagles return to action Wednesday when they host Virginia
Wesleyan, a team that is 3-2 in conference play.
"It doesn't get any easier. We have a good Virginia Wesleyan
team coming in here on Wednesday." said Spector. "Hopefully, we can
build off of today's performance and carry that type of play into
the match against the Marlins."
Game time Wednesday is 6:30 p.m.
