Box Score

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University volleyball team won its third-straight home match on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 15, as the Phoenix topped the Davidson Wildcats in straight sets, 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-16), in its annual Dig Pink match inside Alumni Gym.
 
The Phoenix now sits at 14-8 overall and 3-4 in Southern Conference play with the win, while Davidson drops to 12-9 (2-6) with the setback.
 
“Our energy was great to start out the match,” said head Elon volleyball coach Mary Tendler. “We accomplished the things we wanted to defensively and offensively we were much were aggressive. Our focus at the service line was excellent, we served tough and didn’t make many errors. We look to put together a good effort again tomorrow.”
 
Senior Caroline Lemke led all players with a match-high 14 kills to go along with five blocks, while senior Traci Stewart finished with eight kills and three blocks for the Phoenix, hitting .353 in the win.
 
Rookie Chanelle Smith just missed a double-double in the win, finishing with nine kills and nine digs for the maroon and gold.
 
Junior Ali Deatsch and senior Megan McMahon led the Elon defense with 18 and 16 digs, respectively, while McMahon also registered 24 assists.
 
Elon totaled eight blocks as a team in the victory to help limit the Wildcats to a .123 hitting percentage.
 
The Phoenix jumped out to an early four-point lead, 9-5, in the opening set after capitalizing on several errors by the Wildcats. Lemke pushed the Elon lead to six points later in the set after getting down a kill in front of the Davidson front line to make it a 14-8 game. Davidson managed to pull within three points, 17-14, later in the opening set after an Elon attack error, but that was as close as the Wildcats would come, as the Phoenix outscored Davidson 8-5 down the stretch to win the set, 25-19, and take a 1-0 advantage.
 
With the second set tied early at two-all, the Phoenix went on a five-point run with the help of two kills by Lemke and one by Kris Harris to take a 7-2 lead. Elon’s advantage would continue by as much as six points, 16-10, but Davidson managed to claw back in and tie the set at 19-all. The Wildcats had to take a timeout after an attack error by Caroline Brown broke a 21-all tie and gave the Phoenix a one-point edge, 22-21. With the score knotted at 24-all later in the set, Elon took two-straight points to take a 2-0 match lead after a Davidson error and kill by Lemke.
 
After falling behind by three points, 7-4, in the third set, the Phoenix scored five of the next seven points to take a 9-8 lead following several Davidson errors and kills from Stewart and Lemke. The Phoenix never trailed from that point forward, going up by as many as six points after a Danielle Smith kill gave Elon a 19-13 lead and forced a Davidson timeout. Elon never looked back from that point forward, scoring six of the next nine points to complete the sweep with a 25-16 win.
 
The Phoenix hosts the reigning SoCon Tournament Champions of Georgia Southern tomorrow at 2 p.m. inside Alumni Gym.