VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia - The No. 3 seeded Marlins of Virginia Wesleyan University defeated the No. 6 seeded Royals of Eastern Mennonite University in four sets in the ODAC Women's Volleyball Conference Tournament quarterfinal match on Wednesday evening to advance to the semifinal on Friday. 

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Virginia Wesleyan 3 - Eastern Mennonite 1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-11, 25-14)
Records: Virginia Wesleyan 23-8 | Eastern Mennonite 9-13
Location: TowneBank Arena | Virginia Beach, VA

MATCH RECAP
The Royals took the early lead in the opening set 6-3. The Marlins put together four points to take the one-point advantage, 7-6. EMU scored four points of their own going ahead 10-7 and claimed a five-point lead 16-11 following a Royal ace. VWU fought back to knot the score at 23 all following a 12-7 run that was capped by four consecutive points, but Eastern Mennonite put down back-to-back points to take set one 25-23. 

The two teams traded points through the early services with the Royals leading 8-7 following a pair of Marlin errors. VWU rallied to score six in a row taking a 13-8 lead. Eastern Mennonite climbed back within one trailing 18-17, but Virginia Wesleyan closed out the set on a 7-5 run winning 25-22 and tying the match score at one set each. 

After EMU led 4-3 early in the third set, VWU went on a 10-1 rally to lead 13-5. The Marlins took an 11-point lead, 19-8, following three Royal errors. Eastern Mennonite scores three more points the remainder of the set but Virginia Wesleyan's lead was too large as the Marlins won set three 25-11. 

VWU opened set four on a 5-1 run and increased their lead to five, 8-3 after a block from Jenna Waters and Sydney Collins. The Royals went on a seven point run taking a 10-8 lead but the Marlins did not panic and reclaimed the lead 13-11 following four consecutive points. Eastern Mennonite pulled within one, 14-13, but Virginia Wesleyan closed out the match on an 11-1 run winning the fourth set 25-14 and the match in four sets. 

KEY STATS

• Sydney Collins led the Marlins with 10 kills and three blocks while Abigail Mahoney, Kathryn Yeager, and Emma Claytor each tallied nine kills a piece. 
• Haley Sutton and Alexis Davies-Hackenberg collected a majority of the Marlin assists with Sutton tallying 25 and Davies-Hackenberg 12. 
• Yeager paced the back line with 18 digs while Isabelle Gaudet added 17 and Jenna Waters contributed 16.

UP NEXT
The Marlins are back in action on Friday evening when they travel to Randolph-Macon College, the No. 2 seed, to face the Yellow Jackets in Ashland, VA.