CHARLESTON, S.C. – Elon University volleyball dropped a 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-14) match to 2017 CAA regular-season champion College of Charleston on Friday afternoon, Nov. 10, inside TD Arena.
 
"College of Charleston proved why it's the top team in the conference," said Elon head coach Mary Tendler. "It played really well and we struggled slowing them down, even though we kept trying many different things. We will practice Saturday and look to end the CAA regular season on a high note at UNCW on Sunday afternoon."
 
The loss snapped Elon's brief two-match winning streak, putting the Phoenix at 16-14 on the season and 5-10 in the CAA. Charleston ran its winning streak to 13 in a row with the victory and moved to 25-4 on the season with a 14-1 record in CAA play.
 
THE RUNDOWN
Charleston opened the afternoon with a 5-1 run to force an early Elon timeout. Out of the break, the Phoenix cut the lead back to two with a pair of kills by Nori Thomas and an error by CofC's Lauren Freed. But after the run, the Cougars pulled away with a 3-0 run and a 5-1 stretch to take a 14-6 lead. From there, Charleston continued to push toward the set victory, leading by as many as 10 at 19-9. The Phoenix did use a 5-2 run to cut the lead to seven and continued later on with a 3-1 run to bring it to six at 23-17, but Charleston closed the 25-18 set after an attack error on the Phoenix.
 
Much like the first set, the Cougars opened with a strong effort in going up 9-3. The Phoenix brought the College of Charleston lead back to four at 11-7 with a 4-2 run and stayed within four to five points until the Cougars used a 4-0 run to take a 20-12 advantage. Charleston then closed the set with a 4-0 run to win 25-14.
 
Leading Charleston 4-2 early in the third set, the Phoenix went on to hold an 8-7 lead before the Cougars took 10 of the next 11 points to earn a 17-9 advantage. Having burned both of its timeouts during the run, Elon couldn't stop the CAA champions down the stretch with the Cougars taking the set 25-14.
 
HIGHLIGHTS
Sydney Busa finished with nine kills to lead Elon. She also posted a team-high 11 digs in the loss. Kam Terry finished with eight kills and Thomas had six. Kodi Garcia finished with a team-best 25 assists.
 
Madison Kennedy led Charleston with 11 kills. She also had five blocks and three digs. Freed posted 10 kills to go with six digs. Jane Feddersen posted a match-high seven blocks and Allison Beckman had 36 assists. McKala Rhodes finished with a match-best 14 digs.
 
NOTES
-Busa now stands as one of two players to stand among the Top 10 in career kills and digs. The senior has 1,106 digs, passing Chanelle Smith's 1,096 for 10th-most in program history.
-With a UNCW loss Friday night, Elon would clinch a berth in the CAA Tournament for the first time in program history.
-Should UNCW beat William & Mary, Elon and UNCW will play Sunday for the final spot in the CAA Tournament. Elon needs to win at least one set to guarantee itself the No. 6 seed.
 
UP NEXT
Elon will travel to Wilmington, N.C., for a pivotal regular-season finale on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 12, at 1 p.m. in Hanover Hall. With a win, Elon would earn the No. 6 seed in the CAA Tournament. With a 3-0 loss, the No. 6 seed would go to a tiebreaker situation that could both put the Phoenix in and leave it out depending on this weekend's results.