The Emory University volleyball team added another win to their record on Sept. 20 with a 3-0 sweep over Covenant College (Ga.). The team has come out strong this season with an 8-2 record in nonconference play, following last year’s impressive season in which they claimed the University Athletic Association (UAA) title and advanced to the quarterfinals in the NCAA tournament.
The Eagles started the game against Covenant strong, with senior middle hitters Eliane Silberman and Maggie Regan contributing kills that led to an early 8-1 run for Emory. Covenant attempted to take control of the game and came within a five-point deficit, but senior outside hitters and defensive specialists Kate LaRocco and Kaya Monrose added kills that led to a 7-2 run to dominate the first set 25-15.
In the second set, service aces from LaRocco and kills from Monrose led to a 25-13 score. Emory also took the third set, with service aces from LaRocco and freshman setter Carolina Ufret helping lead the team to victory. LaRocco said capitalizing on serves was important to winning the game, especially because the team had lost serving opportunities in past matches.
“We missed a lot of serves in our other games,” LaRocco said. “This game really focused on our serves … it was a big ace game. And so in those moments, we’re told to take our time and take a deep breath before we serve to refocus and collect ourselves.”
Ufret played a contributing role in the team’s win, totaling four service aces and 14 assists. Even though it is her first season, Ufret has stepped into the rotation alongside senior setter Olivia Rabinowitz, who leads the team in assists this season and had 15 assists in this contest. Head coach Brianna Jones, who entered her third season leading the team, praised Ufret for making an impact early in her college career.
The Eagles’ mix of experience and new talent has fueled their early success. Though they have had to adjust after losing last year’s seniors, the team chemistry remains a defining factor, which LaRocco said played a key part in the victory.
“We’re still trying to figure things out, but one of our main goals right now is having unwavering confidence in ourselves, in our teammates, and we really showed that yesterday,” LaRocco said. “We never let down throughout the game. We just played our game and trusted each other and did our jobs.”
Despite the loss of their defensive specialist and libero Deborah Hong, who graduated after last season, the Eagles’ defense remains solid. Jones said senior defensive specialist Caroline Coyle is filling the defensive leadership role at that position this season.
“Coyle has been the most consistent for us,” Jones said. “She’s been doing great things and providing great opportunities for our offense to score by her digs, and then also her service reception has been absolutely fantastic.”
Ufret said that the team’s defense against Covenant was very consistent and helped the team play as a unit, which she said they emphasized leading up to the game.
“We were very cohesive and consistent in every part of our game,” Ufret said. “That was something we came in knowing that we needed to do was play together and be one unit.”
The team will start their conference play next weekend in the first UAA round-robin matches, where they will face No. 25 Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.) and Brandeis University (Mass.) on Sept. 27 and Case Western Reserve University (Ohio) on Sept. 28. LaRocco said she believes the team can make a deep run this season, but that they are emphasizing a steady approach to start conference play.
“I see us definitely going very far,” Larocco said. “This weekend, we’re just going to focus on the teams that we’re playing in UAA. … We’re just going to focus on one game, one point at a time, and then after that, we move on to the next game.”
