#2 Emory squeaks past #13 Pirates in NCAA Regional Final

Nov. 17, 2008

The NCAA Regional Final match-up Saturday at Trinity University against #13 Southwestern University and #2 Emory University lived up to the lofty expectations of the match.

The Pirates came in as the underdogs as they dropped the earlier match-up with Emory in three sets. Southwestern started slow, dropping the first set 25-20, but soon warmed up and evened the match at 1-1 with a 25-23 win. Riding the excitement of set two, the Pirates dominated Emory in the third set (25-14) to go up 2-1. At that point, the Pirates just ran out of steam and were unable to hold off a talented Emory team, dropping set four 25-12 and set five 15-11.

SU played a great team game as always, being led in digs by Junior Sam Lingamfelter with 23, followed by Senior Danielle Bochat with 17. Bochat also recorded 11 kills to accompany Freshamn Jill Wigington's 12 and Junior Lauren Brown's 11 who also had a .333 hitting percentage. Freshman Christina Nicholls had two service aces in the match to accompany her 42 assists. Freshman Lindsay Thompson notched 4 solo blocks and 2 assisted blocks in the loss.

The exit in the tournament finishes the careers of two seniors, Danielle Bochat and Katie Hollyfield.