Emmaus Earns First ACCA Tournament Victory

It took five long sets, but the Lady Eagles held on to earn their first victory at the ACCA National Tournament against the Lady Lions of Trinity Bible College.  Every set was close, but Emmaus was able to make key plays and close out the fifth (25-23, 25-27, 21-25, 25-23, 15-13).  "Trinity played very strong volleyball today, and it was a gutsy performance from our team to pull out the victory," said Coach Pitman.  "Our teams are evenly matched and this game could have gone either way."

Alli Howard led with 13 kills, Elizabeth Brame had 9, and Savannah Petersen and Chelsea Smith each chipped in 8.  A still recovering Hannah Bell had 30 assists.

In the second match against host school, #5 NCCAA ranked Ozark, the Lady Eagles were determined to give their best effort.  The two teams fought neck and neck with no large runs, but Ozark's balanced attack allowed them to pull away at the end of each set to earn the victory in three (20-25, 21-25, 22-25).  "We were happy with our performance in this match. We played hard with good intensity and had a lot of fun," said Coach Pitman.  "We hit .228 which was our best performance of the tournament, and we hope we can continue this type of play tomorrow."

Emmaus will take on Trinity again tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. to start the single elimination phase of the tournament.  The winner of that match will face number one seeded Arlington Baptist.