BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Elon University volleyball team fought hard throughout its match this afternoon at Samford, but could not avoid the sweep, 3-0 (19-25, 23-25, 23-25), to split the season series with the Bulldogs. Senior Sarah Schermerhorn recorded 10 kills on 16 attempts with no errors to hit .625 for the match. With the loss, Elon drops to 16-13 on the season and 7-5 in Southern Conference play, while Samford improves to 7-6 in the SoCon and 13-14 overall. 

“We had another solid offensive performance today, led by Sarah who has been hitting in front and behind the setter very well,” said Elon head volleyball coach Mary Tendler. “It was good to see our passing settle down as the match went along, but unfortunately, our defense was not up to par today. We were either not where we were supposed to be or not able to make a quality dig or solid block. Against a good team, like Samford, we have to play better defensively. Even with our defensive deficiencies, we battled and gave ourselves opportunities to win sets. With our offense and defense clicking at the same time we our a tough team to beat.”

Senior Lauren Copenhagen matched Schermerhorn with 10 kills of her own, followed by seven kills from sophomore Allison Johnson. Junior Megan McMahon earned 33 assists along with seven digs.

Junior Caroline Lemke recorded three total blocks to help the team out-block Samford, 6-3, while sophomore Ali Deatsch tallied 11 digs on the afternoon.

Off the service of Lemke, the first set started off in Elon’s favor 4-1, but Samford was able to tie it up early at four-all. The set remained close for the next several points as the score found itself tied at every other point until the Bulldogs pulled out to the 10-9 lead. With the score at a 12-10 Samford advantage, Elon scored on three straight kills from Copenhagen and Schermerhorn to take the slight 13-12 lead. However, with the score tied at 14-all, the Phoenix committed some errors to help the Bulldogs move ahead 19-15. Elon was not able to close the gap to salvage the set and Samford took the first win, 25-19.

The Phoenix found itself down 8-4 early in the second set, but rallied to narrow the gap to only two points at 16-14. Samford then scored on four of the next five points to pull ahead 20-15, but Elon responded going on its own three-point run to give the Bulldogs only a two-point lead once again. A kill by Copenhagen moved the Phoenix to only one point behind the Bulldogs, 23-22, and in striking position to take the set lead. However, Samford scored two of the last three points to take the 2-0 match lead with a 25-23 second-set victory.

The third set proved to be a close one with five lead changes and six ties by the time the score reached eight-all, but it was Samford that grabbed the first solid lead of the set at 11-8. The Phoenix was then able to pull within one point, 16-15, off a kill from Johnson. Despite being down only one, 24-23 late in the set, the Phoenix was not able to avoid the sweep and dropped the third and final set 25-23.

Elon will remain on the road next weekend as it travels to nearby rival UNC Greensboro for a 6 p.m. match on Friday, Nov. 5, then to Wofford for a 7 p.m. match on Saturday, Nov. 6.