SAVANNAH, Ga. - In the first day of the SCAD Invitational, Abby Hall's 26 kills led four Eagles in double-figures as the No. 11 Embry-Riddle volleyball team defeated Shorter (Ga.) in four sets (27-29, 25-21, 25-16, 25-20) after falling in the day's first match to No. 2 Lee (Tenn.), 3-0 (22-25, 16-25, 20-25).
In the first match of day, Lee jumped ahead early, opening up leads of 7-1 and 12-3 in set one. But the Eagles didn't back down, using a 12-4 run to pull within a point at 16-15. A kill from Jordan Holcomb tied things up at 18, but the Lady Flames rattled off five straight points to regain the lead, 23-18. Lee would go on to take the first set, 25-22.
The second set started a lot like the first, with Lee taking a 7-2 lead in the early going. The Eagles made a quick 4-1 run to cut the deficit to just two points (8-6), but the Lady Flames ran away with the set, winning 25-16.
Embry-Riddle used a pair of blocks from Holcomb and Emily Jacobson to take a 3-0 lead to start the third set, but Lee would quickly even things at 4-4. From that point, neither team took a lead of more than three points until the Lady Flames put together an 8-3 run with the set tied at 17, taking the set by a score of 25-20 and the match, 3-0.
Hall led the Eagles with nine kills to go along with 11 digs, while Holcomb added eight kills, 12 digs, and four blocks. Gloria Kemp hit a team-high .467 (7-0-15), and Jacobson recorded six blocks.
Arlene Ferreira registered match-highs in kills (12) and digs (22). Gretchen Higdon added 20 assists and 10 digs, while Kayla Carlisle tallied eight kills and eight blocks.
In the second match of the day, taking on Shorter (Ga.) University, ERAU held a slim advantage throughout a majority of the first set but was unable to finish, failing to convert on four set points before falling, 29-27.
Set two saw the Blue and Gold string together five straight points to take a 9-5 lead in the early going. After Shorter battled back to tie the set at 12, back-to-back kills from Hall and Taylor Martin put the Eagles back in front. The Hawks kept things close, trailing by no more than two points until the very end of the set when ERAU won four out of the final five points to win the set, 25-21.
In the third set, Embry-Riddle used an early 5-0 run to gain a 12-7 advantage, and the Eagles never looked back. The closest Shorter would get was 13-10, as the Blue and Gold pulled away, 25-16.
Much like the last set, set four was close early, with ERAU leading by a slim margin through the first 19 points of the set. Leading 10-9, the Eagles went on a quick 5-1 run, which included three kills from Kemp, to establish a 15-10 lead. The Blue and Gold maintained a comfortable cushion through the remainder of the set, cruising to a 25-20 win in the set, and a 3-1 win in the match.
Hall led all players with 26 kills in addition to 11 digs. Martin added a double-double (18 kills, 12 digs), and Kemp again led the team with a .407 hitting percentage (16-5-27). Holcomb recorded 10 kills, nine digs, and three service aces. Nina Kontrec picked up a match-high 37 digs and Adriana Vazquez dished out a match-high 66 assists.
Ashley Walton led the Hawks with 17 kills while Katie Van Hofwegen tallied a team-high 21 digs. Jordan Corder added a team-high 33 assists and 19 digs.
