CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Elon University volleyball team completed a season sweep of the Chattanooga Lady Mocs tonight after taking an exciting 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 25-19, 21-25, 15-9) match victory. Junior Caroline Lemke tied her career-high with nine total blocks (one solo and eight assisted).Elon improves to 7-4 in Southern Conference play and 16-12 overall, while Chattanooga drops to 10-18 overall and 5-7 in the SoCon.

“We knew we had to play really well to beat a very hot Chattanooga team,” said Elon head volleyball coach Mary Tendler. “We picked a good time to play our best SoCon road match of the year. I thought Megan did a great job of distributing the ball to the hitters and that gave us a nice balanced attack tonight. Even though we lost the fouth set, we went into the fifth set with a lot of confidence. Our aggressiveness at the service line really paid off in the end.”

Lemke led Elon with a .343 attack percentage with senior Sarah Schermerhorn leading the team in kills with 17. Lemke tallied 14 kills in the match, while sophomore Allison Johnson and senior Lauren Copenhagen recorded 14 and 10 kills, respectively. Senior Lizzie West and Lemke each recorded three service aces to contribute to Elon’s ten total service aces in the match, with junior Megan McMahon earning 48 assists on the night.

The nine blocks from Lemke helped spur the Elon defense that finished the match with 12 total team blocks. Sophomore Ali Deatsch totaled 28 digs, while Copenhagen recorded 20 on the night.

The Lady Mocs took an early 7-1 lead in the first set before Elon scored the next four points to limit the deficit to two points. Elon shortened the UTC lead to two points again late to make the score 14-12, but the Lady Mocs scored six of the next eight points to move their advantage to 20-14. With the score in favor of Chattanooga, 23-17, the Phoenix went on a four-point run that included two kills from Lemke and closed the gap to just 23-21, forcing UTC to call a timeout. However, Chattanooga would score two of the final three points to take the first set, 25-22.

In the second set, UTC once again jumped out to the early lead, 4-1, but off the service of junior Traci Stewart, Elon was able to tie the score at five-all. A service ace by Stewart then moved the Phoenix to its first real advantage of the match at 8-5. The Lady Mocs fought back to tie the set at 11-all and then once again at 16-all. The rest of the set would remain close with three ties and four lead changes, until the score reached a 23-21 Phoenix advantage. Elon maintained its lead and eventually went on to win the set, 25-22, off a serve and assist by McMahon and a kill from Lemke. 

The third set found the Phoenix with the early 4-1 lead until the Lady Mocs tied the score at four-all. Elon was able to take the slight lead, 15-14, and then went on a six-point run that moved it to a 20-14 Phoenix advantage. Chattanooga was not able to catch up and the Phoenix took the third set, 25-19, and the 3-1 match lead. 

The fourth set remained tight until Chattanooga took a 10-7 lead off a service ace from Heather Parman. The Phoenix tied the set at 11-all before the Lady Mocs once again jumped ahead 17-14. Elon then scored three of the next four points to trail UTC by just one with the score at 18-17. The Phoenix was not able to surpass the Lady Mocs as Chattanooga took the 25-21 set win and sent the match into a deciding fifth set.

The fifth and final set started off tight with three ties and four lead changes until Elon took the first solid lead at 6-3 off a kill from Schermerhorn. Chattanooga then narrowed the gap to one with the score still in favor of the Phoenix, 7-6. But the Phoenix went on to score five of the next seven points and pulled ahead, 12-8, to put the set out of reach for the Lady Mocs. A kill by Lemke sealed the season sweep of Chattanooga and gave Elon the 15-9 set win and the 3-2 match victory.

Elon will return to action tomorrow, Oct. 31, at Samford. The match is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.