ELON, N.C. – The Elon University volleyball team fell to Appalachian State 3-0 in Southern Conference volleyball action on Friday night in Alumni Gym. The Mountaineers took the games by scores of 30-25, 30-20 and 30-21.

Tied 6-6 in the first game, ASU used an 11-4 run to go ahead 17-10. Elon battled to within four at 22-16, but the Mountaineers scored six of the next nine points to take a nine-point advantage, 28-19. Elon closed within four again at 29-25 behind the serve of Juliena Gigon before ASU finished the game 30-25.

Appalachian State (18-7, 11-2) jumped to an early lead in game two and continued to a 19-12 lead. Elon used a 5-0 run behind the serve of Emily Lucci and the offensive of Britany Westphal to close the gap to two at 19-17. But the Mountaineers took control of the game, capitalizing on Elon errors, and went on an 11-3 run to close the game at 30-20 on an Amy Lewis kill. The Mountaineers posted a hitting percentage of .424 in the game, recording 17 kills and only three errors.

In game three, Elon (6-18, 4-8) took an early advantage, leading by as much as three, before ASU tied the game, 8-8. From the tie, the Mountaineers used the serve of Charissa Clearman and Chrissy Finch, as well as attack errors by Elon, to go ahead by 10 at 23-13. The Mountaineers would hold on to the advantage and close the game at 30-21.

Lucci paced the Elon offense with 10 kills and only two errors while Westphal added nine kills. Shelley MacBean led the Phoenix defense with seven digs and Emily Downing tallied six digs. Kate Hart posted 22 assists for Elon.

Dianna Thompson led the Mountaineer offense with 13 kills and only one error on 17 attempts for a .706 hitting percentage. Kali Rumberger paced the defense with 12 digs and Finch added nine digs. Lorelle Rau posted 32 assists for the Mountaineers.

Appalachian State is next in action on Saturday, Oct. 29 in a 2 p.m. match at UNC Greensboro. Elon returns to action on Saturday in a 4 p.m. match at the “Nest” with Davidson.

-ELON-

Match Box Score