CARROLLTON, Ga. - UWG Volleyball's 2022 home opener was spoiled by the visiting Emory Eagles on Tuesday night as the Wolves fell 3-1 at The Coliseum.
The Wolves (5-3) welcomed the Eagles (3-1), who are ranked 14th in the country in Division III for the home opener, and quickly fell behind 2-0.Â
Emory never trailed in the opening set, and led by as much as five at the 14-9 mark. West Georgia eventually battled back to make it a one-point deficit as consecutive kills by Sarah Pipping, Isabella Steffel, and Emilee Harris made it an 18-17 Emory lead. That's as close as UWG would come as Emory would win the race to 25 and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
The second set was a back-and-forth affair with neither team leading by more than two until Emory went up 23-20 late in the set. From there, the Wolves got it back to 23-22 before the Eagles got two consecutive points to win the set.
Set three was more of the same until six straight points from UWG gave the Wolves a 22-17 advantage. But Emory didn't go away quietly as the final was 25-22, UWG, and made it 2-1 in the match.
West Georgia led in the fourth by an 11-4 lead before Emory responded with a 13-1 run to flip the script and make it a 17-12 Wolves deficit, and it was a lead they would never relinquish, closing out the match in four.
Pipping led the Wolves in kills with 11, followed by Harris with 10. Sydney Blackmon led defensively with 22 digs.
Emory had a trio of players with double-digit kills, led by 15 each from Alana Dawson and Jessica Majka.
The Wolves are back in action on Friday morning, opening the first of three matches at The Coliseum over the weekend as part of the GSC-PBC Crossover Tournament. UWG's first action of the weekend starts at 10 a.m. on Friday morning against Georgia College.