Elon (14-12, 3-8 CAA) at James Madison

Date | Time	Sunday, Oct. 29 | 1 p.m.
Location	Harrisonburg, Va. (Sinclair Gym)
Series Record	James Madison leads 8-0
Last Meeting	Sept. 25, 2017 - JMU, 3-0
Live Stats	Click Here
Match Notes	Click Here
Twitter	@ElonScores | @ElonVB

 

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ELON, N.C. – Elon University volleyball will close its four-match road trip Sunday afternoon, Oct. 29, with a trip to Harrisonburg, Va., to take on James Madison. First serve against the Dukes is set for 1 p.m. in Sinclair Gym.

SCOUTING JAMES MADISON
Entering the weekend, the Dukes own a 15-4 overall record with a 6-4 mark in conference play. Currently, JMU is tied with Hofstra for fourth in the CAA standings. James Madison is set to host the 2017 CAA Tournament next month after winning the tournament last season. Led by eighth-year head coach Lauren Steinbrecher, JMU posted a perfect 9-0 mark in non-conference play before winning six of its first 10 matches of conference play. Bryn Recker leads JMU with 3.56 kills per set and M'Kaela White leads the conference with 1.51 blocks per set. Taylor Austin also averages 5.37 digs per set. In the first meeting between the two teams this year, JMU topped Elon 3-0 in Alumni Gym back on Sept. 25. 

LAST TIME OUT
Elon took a 2-1 lead to the fourth set on Wednesday, Oct. 25, at William & Mary, but the Tribe rallied to claim the 25-22, 22-25, 23-25, 25-22, 15-10 win. Kodi Garcia had a career match with 63 assists, tying for the 10th-most in a match in program history. She also added 14 digs for her eighth double-double of the year. Sydney Busa paced Elon offensively with 24 kills to go with 27 digs. Kam Terry also added 23 kills and 12 digs. Maddie Jaudon finished with 22 digs in the loss. 

BUSA MAKES HISTORY
Busa became the fourth player in program history to reach 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career in Elon's sweep of UNCW on Sunday, Oct. 15. She joined the likes of Hall of Famer Debbie Hall, Katie Ruoff and Fiona MacPherson as the only individuals in Elon's 46-year history to have reached the milestone. She currently stands sixth all-time in kills. Should she crack the Top 10 in digs, she would join Hall as the only two players in program history to be on the Top 10 charts for both kills and digs. Currently, Busa is 34 digs away from tying Chanelle Smith for the 10th-most digs in team history.

SENIOR SUCCESS
Entering the weekend, Busa is posting CAA highs in kills (420), kills per set (4.33), points (461.5) and points per set (4.76) through 26 matches. The senior from Leesburg, Va., was named to three of the four possible All-Tournament teams this fall in non-conference play. Entering the year, Busa had never averaged more than 2.82 kills per set or 2.71 digs per set in a season. Thus far in 2017, she is nearly 1.5 kills per set and more than 0.75 digs per set higher than both of her previous career marks, which were set in 2016. 

DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINES
Busa and Terry are helping pace the CAA in double-doubles this season. Busa recorded her 16th double-double of the season against William & Mary while Terry stands at 15 on the year to place among the conference's best. Before the campaign, Busa had posted 23 over the course of her first three years with the program while Terry has more than doubled her total after entering 2017 with seven. 

CLIMBING THE ALL-TIME CHARTS
Jaudon currently stands in sixth place for most digs in a career with 1,213. She passed Cheryl Spivey's 1,264 against UNCW on Oct. 15 and now takes aim at M.K. Spear's 1,368 from 2001-04. Busa has posted 1,263 kills in her career in maroon and gold, putting her sixth all-time behind Caroline Lemke's 1,279 from 2008-11.

SINGLE-SEASON RECORDS
With 420 kills this season, Busa has the seventh-most kills in a season in program history. Velma Degree stands sixth with 438 in 1992. Busa's 420 kills also stand as the second-most in a season since Elon became a Division I program. She is 60 kills behind Emily Hayes' 480 in 2003 for the most since Elon made the switch to Division I.

Garcia's 1,036 assists this year put her 10th in Elon's single-season list for assists. It is 17 behind Natalie Moore's 1,053 assists in 2007 for the ninth-most in a season and 44 behind Ana Nicksic's 1,080 in 2012 for the fifth-most in Elon's Division I history.

AMONG NATIONAL LEADERS
On the national scene, Busa and Garcia rank among the country's best when it comes to points, kills and assists. To date, Busa is fourth in the nation for total points at 461.5 and is fourth for total kills with 420. Garcia's 1,036 total assists to date are the fourth-most in the nation and the most for a freshman. 

JAUDON'S MILESTONE
Jaudon surpassed the 1,000-career dig mark at the Liberty Invitational. She is averaging 4.10 digs per set having posted 1,312 to date in 320 sets played across 86 matches in maroon and gold.

ROOKIE SUCCESSES
Garcia and middle blocker Courtney Carpenter have had a big impact on Elon's 26 matches this season. Garcia stepped in as the team's starting setter on opening weekend and has made the most of her opportunity, posting 10.68 assists per set thus far to place third in the CAA by more than three assists per set. Carpenter thus far is third on the team with 158 kills, but has recorded 73 blocks on the season to lead the team in the category. This year, Carpenter has had eight-block performances against Navy, Delaware and Northeastern. Both players have been named CAA Rookie of the Week this season with Garcia earning the honor twice on Aug. 28 and Oct. 2 and Carpenter on Sept. 25. 

PRESEASON HONOR AND POLL
Busa was named a Preseason All-CAA Honorable Mention before the start of the 2017 season. It marks the second time in her career she's earned the honor. The recognition follows her 2016 Third Team All-CAA nod at season's end. Announced the same day as Busa's preseason honor, Elon was selected to finish eighth in the CAA this year. College of Charleston was picked to win the league with six first-place votes and Hofstra followed closely with three first-place votes.

CLOSING ON THE ROAD
Down the stretch this season, Elon will only play two of its final five matches inside the friendly confines of Alumni Gym. Those two matches will come the first weekend of November on Nov. 3 and 5 against Hofstra and Northeastern.

HEAD COACH MARY TENDLER
Elon head coach Mary Tendler is in her 15th season at the helm of the program. After winning her 200th match as the team's leader last season, she holds a 230-251 record to date with the Phoenix since the start of the 2003 season. On Saturday, Sept. 30, Tendler returned to University of Illinois, where she was a member of the school's inaugural Hall of Fame class.

BIDDING FAREWELL
The 2017 season marks the 46th and final campaign for the volleyball program in Alumni Gym, with the team set to move its home matches to the Schar Center in 2018. The 5,400-seat convocation center is currently under construction and will host the volleyball program, as well as the men's and women's basketball programs, beginning with the 2018-19 academic year.

LOOKING AHEAD
Elon will come home for its final two home matches of the season on Friday and Sunday, Nov. 3 and 5, against Hofstra and Northeastern. Friday's match against the Pride is set for 7:30 p.m. and Sunday's match is slated for 2 p.m. Before Sunday's match, Elon will honor seniors Sydney Busa and Michelle Klein for their contributions to the program over the course of the last four years.