BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Birmingham-Southern women's volleyball team fought No. 10 Emory to five sets Sunday evening before falling 3-2.  The Panthers (15-7, 11-3) dropped their opening match to Hendrix College 3-1 in the doubleheader to close out their home season.

Julia Denby (Gulf Breeze, Fla./Gulf Breeze HS) and Emmy Kilgore (Mountain Brook, Ala./Mountain Brook HS) led BSC with 26 and 25 kills, respectively.  Milea Ray (Alabaster, Ala./Pensacola State) finished right behind them with 22 of her own.

Distributing the ball, Rachel Lee (Montgomery, Ala./The Montgomery Academy) averaged 42 assists per match on the day.  And defensively, Melaina Hissam (Madison, Ala./Bob Jones HS) averaged 30 digs per match, while Rebecca Erwin (Duluth, Ga./Duluth HS) had a career-high 5.5 blocks against Emory.

Ray earned a double-double against Hendrix, finishing with a match-high 14 kills and 16 digs.  Hissam tied for the match-high of 21 digs. She also had the match-high of 39 digs against Emory, marking the sixth time this season she has earned 20+ digs in a match.

BSC heads to Atlanta next for the Emory Invitational October 27-28.  The Panthers will face Washington & Lee again and also see Webster and Randolph-Macon.

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