Eastern Mennonite University

EMU women's basketball senior Lexi Deffenbaugh (Fishersville, Va./Wilson Memorial) finished her career on a high note, scoring double figures in both of her games last week. Lexi went off for a season high 15 points with five assists and five rebounds in Wednesday's Senior Night game against rival Bridgewater. Then in her final game, she scored 11 points, including tying her season high with 3 three pointers. Lexi closes her career tied for eighth in EMU history with 235 career assists.

EMU men's volleyball player Martin Pou (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) is not a traditional college athlete. While his 6-foot-7-inch frame makes him stand out among the average college student, his athletic journey makes him stand out among his peers. Most athletes who play ball in college got their start as kids, and many played travel ball of some sort. Martin got his start IN college, playing intramural volleyball as a freshman. He invested a lot of time training before his sophomore season and transferred to EMU to play with the Royals.

After a solid start to the year when the EMU softball team played games in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., over Spring Break, leadoff batter Emily Davis (King George, Va./Fredericksburg Christian) caught fire back in Virginia. In back-to-back doubleheaders against Southern Virginia and Mary Baldwin, Emily scored seven runs in four games. Her highlight came in a game against Mary Baldwin, where the sophomore batted 3-for-3, adding a walk and scoring three of her team's five runs.

Jacob Merica (Elkton, Va./East Rockingham) is having a great start to his junior season, batting .382 with a team best 12 RBIs. He is hitting 117 points better than his previous best batting average (.265 from freshman season), and already has more RBIs this season than in any of his previous years. His 12 runs scored are tied for second on the team.

For the 14th straight year, the EMU field hockey team earned the National Academic Team Award from the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA). Additionally, nine of the women on the team claimed a spot on the National Academic Squad.

EMU baseball player John Judy (Shanks, W.V./Hampshire) has been blazing hot to start his final season at Eastern Mennonite. He won each of the ODAC Pitcher of the Week honors from the season's first two weeks, with the back-to-back awards an incredibly rare accomplishment in the sport of baseball. On the season's opening weekend, John threw 6.0 innings and allowed just one run to push EMU's baseball men to a 2-1 win and a series win at North Carolina Wesleyan.

Junior Tie Evans (Henrico, Va./Steward School) scored a combined 10 points over his first two seasons as a Royal. Now he is a starter and is third on the men's basketball team in scoring. Last week, Tie made 8-of-11 three pointers and averaged 17.5 points as the Runnin Royals won both of their games on the road.

For the second week in a row, EMU senior pitcher John Judy (Shanks, W.V./Hampshire) has been named the baseball Old Dominion Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week.

Three years after her All-ODAC rookie season, Chloe Roach (Leesburg, Va./Tuscarora) is finding her stride back on the basketball court, averaging 22.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals for EMU last week. The highlight was 24 points (on 10-for-17 shooting) and eight rebounds in a 61-50 road win at Randolph. Chloe has scored 21 or more points in four of her last five games. Included in that stretch is a game of 21 points, seven rebounds, six steals and three assists, spurring a 79-67 upset of Roanoke.

EMU senior pitcher John Judy (Shanks, W.V./Hampshire) has been named the baseball Old Dominion Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week.

Sophomore Isaac Alderfer (Broadway, Va./Broadway) ran three top-4 ODAC finishes at the Finn Pincus Invitational last weekend. Individually, he took seven seconds off his PR in the mile, coming in eighth overall in 4:26.20, No. 4 in EMU history.

Anybody who has seen an EMU women's basketball game over the past four year knows Chrissy Delawder (Broadway, Va./Broadway). She has been a regular on the floor, seeing action in all 91 games the Royals have played since the 2016-17 season, including 61 starts.

Last season was a year of flashes for DJ Hill (Woodbridge, Va./Hylton), as he showed flashes of his potential, averaging 7.8 points and scoring in double figures nine times. This year is about consistency for the EMU Runnin Royal, as DJ is now averaging double figures and after scoring 10 or more in all but two of his games.

EMU junior forward DJ Hill (Woodbridge, Va./Hylton) has been named the men's basketball Old Dominion Athletic Conference Player of the Week.

Alijah Johnson (Upper Marlboro, Md./Frederick Douglass) had a busy first track meet of the season, participating in three events last Saturday at the Bast-Cregger Invitational. The sophomore more than proved he is ready to take the next step after being named the EMU Male Freshman of the Year in 2018-19. Alijah won his first race of the day at the Bast-Cregger and established a PR in the 300m. Then he missed his PR by a mere 0.01 of a second in the 60m dash. And he capped the meet by breaking his indoor PR in the 200m, surging to the No. 2 spot in EMU history.

Eastern Mennonite University field hockey player Brandy Troutman (Mountville, Pa./Hempfield) wrapped up her breakout sophomore season with one more award, earning a spot on the All-State Second Team. She was selected to the elite team by a vote of the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID).

Alderfer, a sophomore from Broadway, Va., was the top ODAC finisher at the Hornet Harrier hosted by Shenandoah University at Kernstown Battlefield, site of the 2018 ODAC Championships.

A year ago at this time, the sport of triathlon wasn't even on her mind. Today, Eastern Mennonite University senior Abigail Shelly (Collinsville, Miss./West Lauderdale) took 13th place at the Women's Triathlon National Championships in Tempe, Ariz.

EMU sophomore Brandy Troutman (Mountville, Pa./Hempfield) came into the beginning of her second year excited for what the field hockey season had in store. Brandy's summer goal was to go into the season in better shape than the year before.

As he finished his second cross country season last fall, EMU's Justice Allen (Waynesboro, Va./Waynesboro) decided to make his summer training a top priority as he prepared to take it to the next level. Over the summer, Justice followed Coach Bob Helper's workout program, while also adding strength training into his routine. Through his hard work, Justice continues to destroy his personal records as he prepares to compete at Regionals.

EMU junior Tim Jones (Forestville, Md./Central) showed from day one that he is ready to take the next step on the basketball court.

Eastern Mennonite University goalkeeper Leah Wenger (Broadway, Va./Eastern Mennonite) has been named the top scholar-athlete in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. As part of the ODAC postseason awards, Wenger was voted as the ODAC/Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Voting for the scholar-athlete award was completed by the conference's athletic communications directors.

EMU women's soccer junior Megan Breidigan (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone) earned a spot on the Google Cloud District 5 Academic All-District Team. The award recognizes her work both in the athletic and academic spheres at Eastern Mennonite University.

The Eastern Mennonite University women's volleyball team finished the season at 13-13, claiming the first .500 season since 2001. A big reason for that was one of the shortest Royals. With 13 players on the roster, five-foot three-inch senior captain Ginny Sorrell (Spotsylvania, Va./Spotsylvania) demonstrated a relentless approach in her final season as she helped lead the team to the most wins of any EMU team since 2001. Ginny continued to give strong efforts through the end of the season, coming up with a season high 16 digs in the four-set win against Goucher in the final week.

Senior women's volleyball player Meredith Stinnette (Altavista, Va./Altavista) has come up big when the Royals needed her. In some of the best performances in her four-year career, she had a season high of 12 kills in a wild five-set win at Randolph, where the women recovered from a 2-0 deficit. The next day, Meredith went on and broke her season and career high with 17 kills.

EMU cross country runner Collin Longenecker (Harrisonburg, Va./Turner Ashby) took 30 seconds off his 8k PR at the CNU Invitational in Newports News, Va. At this invitational, the Royals beat both ODAC rival Virginia Wesleyan and host Christopher Newport. As the lone senior on the men's team, Collin's leadership has been vital to the culture of the team, and this year's successes.

Eastern Mennonite University senior Madeline Mast (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) has been a consistent, four-year starter for the Royals' field hockey program. Madeline is known for her resiliency and commitment, on and off the field. Although she has experienced changes in coaching staff, line-up, and even classroom endeavors, Madeline's strength continues to shine through.

EMU women's soccer goalie Leah Wenger (Broadway, Va./Eastern Mennonite) is the anchor to the Royals' best start in program history. The senior made four saves in a double overtime win at Southern Virginia, and then made five stops in the ODAC opener at Emory & Henry to push EMU to 7-1 with her second and third consecutive 1-0 shutouts.

Recovering from an injury, EMU men's soccer senior Caleb Oakes (Waynesboro, Va./Stuarts Draft) demonstrates a strong sense of perseverance and faith, continuing to cherish each moment in his final season.

Sophomore Hannah Johnson (Staunton, Va./Wilson Memorial) was excited to begin her second season on the Eastern Mennononite University women's volleyball team. Last year, Hannah led the team with 201 kills, despite missing 10 matches due to injury. She prepared differently this season by placing more emphasis on injury prevention.