The EMU Women’s Volleyball season ended with a loss to the Averett Cougars in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference quarterfinals, their first ODAC quarterfinals appearance since 2017. The Royals lost that game 3-1, losing the first set 18-25, the second 8-25, winning the third 30-28, then losing the final set 11-25.
The season was an overall successful one for the team, going 8-14, the most wins for the program since the 2019 season. The team has no seniors, so the entire team, plus new first years, will look to build off of a strong season. For the Royals, Paris Hutchinson, a Junior opposite hitter, has made the all-conference team three years in a row now after being named Third Team All-ODAC.
Sophomore Bri Leeper, when discussing the team’s season and her season, said, “the team this year was strong competition and well balanced. Overall the team worked very hard to get where we are now. Unfortunately our season was cut short but we did make it to ODACs which was a goal for us. There were a couple of games we could have taken but there is always next season! I am proud of how I personally performed, Coach Casey, our staff, and my teammates pushed me more than I could imagine and I surprised myself with more kills and defense.”
Leeper said her goals for the next season was “to become more scrappy and aggressive with my defense and hitting. I would really love to see the team grow more and possibly win the ODACS!”
Junior Megan Miller said, “I think our season and team was unique this year because we had nine freshmen joining ten returners with no seniors. We were a young team but everyone stepped up to the challenge where needed and I feel like we had a good energy this year.” When asked what word she would use to describe the team, she said, “Resilient: we had many injuries over the course of the season so lineups were often changing and people were having to step up in their position or move to another position.” Miller said that “it can be hard to be fully satisfied with a season when it didn’t end the way you intended,” but she feels that the team is heading in the right direction, and that this is just the start for their team. Miller said her goals were “ending top 5 in the ODAC, winning a tournament game, and beating Bridgewater.”
The team has high hopes for the next season, a young team reaching a milestone that hadn’t been reached since 2017 is a major building block for a program that has built itself into a strong, young team over the last couple of years. With new recruits and no seniors, the Royals will look to have a deep and talent-loaded team going forward.
