Box Score

Photo Gallery

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University volleyball team already knew going in to tonight’s match with Western Carolina that they had earned at least a share of the Southern Conference North Division title. But after tonight’s sweep of the Catamounts, 3-0 (25-12, 25-16, 25-20), the Phoenix won the division outright and the top north seed in next weekend’s conference tournament.

With the win, Elon improves to 20-13 on the year and 11-6 in SoCon play. Western Carolina ends its season 6-26 (1-15 SoCon).

“If feels wonderful to win the North Division,” said head Elon volleyball coach Mary Tendler. “It’s something we’ve been striving for and we’ve been consistent through the conference matches and that’s what it takes to win. It was a sad night saying goodbye to the three seniors but still happy because the night ended up so well for us.”

Seniors Lauren Copenhagen, Sarah Schermerhorn and Lizzie West all performed well on senior night combining for 16 kills, 21 digs and four blocks. Juniors Caroline Lemke and Traci Stewart led the way for Elon with Lemke earning 11 kills for a .625 attack percentage and Stewart recording eight kills with no errors for a .421 attack percentage. Junior Megan McMahon tallied a match-high 36 assists to help the Phoenix to a team .298 attack percentage.

On defense, sophomore Ali Deatsch recorded 18 digs for the Phoenix, while Stewart earned four blocks and Lemke finished with three. Overall, Elon out blocked Western Carolina, 7-3.

Off the service of Stewart, the Phoenix jumped out to a 14-2 lead in the first set with Copenhagen and Schermerhorn contributing with three kills each. With the score at 19-6, Elon went on another run, this time of three points, to move the advantage to 16 points at 22-6. Even with a five-point Western run to make the score 24-12, the Phoenix’s lead was too much for the Catamounts and a kill by Copenhagen ended the set, 25-12.

In the second set, with the score only at a two-point Phoenix advantage at 9-7, Elon went on a 5-2 run off kills by Stewart and Lemke, as well as a service ace by Lemke, to move the score to 14-9. Later in the set with the score in favor of Elon, 19-15, three straight kills by the Phoenix, one by Lemke and two by sophomore Allison Johnson, helped Elon on a 6-1 run to close out the set 25-16.

The Catamounts came out of the break strong to tie the game at four-all, but a four point Elon run that included two kills by Schermerhorn gave the Phoenix an 8-4 lead. With the score at a 12-9 Elon advantage, a 5-2 Phoenix run moved the lead to six points at 17-11. Elon increased its lead to nine points after a four-point run spurred by a kill from Stewart. In the end the set and match lead were too much for Western and the Phoenix finished the sweep, 25-20.

Elon’s next match will be in the first round of the SoCon Volleyball Championship. After winning the North Division, the Phoenix will play on Friday, Nov. 19 at 4:30 p.m. against the fourth seed of the South Division. The conference tournament will conclude on Sunday, Nov. 21 with the championship match.