Box Score

Cullowhee, N.C. – The Elon University volleyball team won its first Southern Conference road match of the season with a thrilling 3-1 victory at Western Carolina on Sunday. Elon improves to 11-9 on the season (3-1 SoCon), while Western Carolina falls to 6-13 (1-3 SoCon).

 

“The toughness shown in the fourth set was incredible to come back from such a big deficit,” said Elon volleyball head coach Mary Tendler. “Lizzie does what she always does by getting on a serving run and coming up with some crucial digs at the same time. Our offense ran smoother today than it did yesterday and we continue to have a balanced offensive attack, which was effective. We’ll need to continue that as we go through the conference season.”

Junior Caroline Lemke led the Elon attack with 13 kills, while sophomore Allison Johnson and junior Traci Stewart recorded 11 kills each. Freshman Cali Estes helped the Phoenix offense with an impressive 27 assists, a personal-best for the Indiana native. Junior Nickie Halbert also recorded 21 assists in the 6-2 offense.

 

The Phoenix defense was a team effort with four players (sophomore Ali Deatsch, senior Lizzie West, senior Lauren Copenhagen and Halbert) all recording 10 digs or more. Lemke finished the match with two solo blocks and four assisted blocks.

 

In the first set, Elon jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with kills by Lemke and Johnson. Western Carolina rallied and evened the set at eight-all. With the score tied at 10 points each, the Phoenix went on a five-point run with serves by senior Sarah Schermerhorn and kills by Johnson and Stewart. The Catamounts rallied to make the Elon advantage only two points, 17-15. The score remained close when Western Carolina pulled within two points four different times before a kill by Stewart with an assist from Estes gave Elon the win, 25-22.

 

The second set began with the Phoenix going on a 9-2 run that included kills from Copenhagen, Estes and a solo block from Lemke. With the score at a 15-5 Elon advantage, the Catamounts scored four straight to pull within six, 15-9, and forced the Phoenix to call a timeout. After the short break, Elon scored on three consecutive kills from Schermerhorn and Johnson. The Phoenix continued to hold the lead to take the 25-16 win and the 2-0 lead in the match with another set-point kill from Stewart, her fifth kill of the afternoon.

 

The third set found the score tied eight times by the time it was nine-all. Western Carolina then went on a 6-1 run to make the score 15-10, Catamounts. With the score at 20-14 in favor of Western Carolina, a kill from Schermerhorn and a block by Lemke and Stewart, pulled Elon to within four, 20-16. Western Carolina continued with its strong play in the set and took its first set of the afternoon, 25-19.

 

In the fourth set, the Catamounts jumped out to an 8-3 lead and forced the Phoenix to call a timeout. After the timeout, Elon cut the deficit to 14-10 with kills from Cophenhagen and Stewart and two from Lemke. Schermerhorn also contributed to the run with a service ace. Western Carolina scored three straight to move the score to 17-10. Elon then mounted a six point run to bring the set to 17-16. With the score at a 20-17 Western Carolina advantage, the Phoenix tied the score at 20-all. Elon took its first lead of the set at 23-22 with a kill from Stewart. The Catamounts scored the next point to make it 23-all, but the next two points went to Elon and the Phoenix took the set and the match, 25-23.

 

The Elon volleyball team will return home next weekend to play UNC Greensboro on Friday, Oct. 8 and Furman on Saturday, Oct. 9. Both matches are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. in Jordan Gym.