HARRISONBURG, Va. – Sixth-seeded Elon University volleyball battled its way back from a deficit to force a decisive fifth set, but the Phoenix fell just short of upsetting third-seeded James Madison in a 3-2 (28-30, 25-13, 25-21, 23-25, 15-9) loss to the defending conference champion Dukes on their home floor Thursday afternoon, Nov. 16, inside Sinclair Gym.

"We fought hard in our first CAA Tournament and our players followed the game plan really well," said Elon head coach Mary Tendler. "This experience will benefit us immensely moving forward and I'm very proud of our team for the fight it showed. We will miss our two seniors very much. I am so thankful and appreciative of everything they have given to Elon University and our volleyball program."
 
Elon's 2017 campaign comes to an end at an even 16-16. In the regular season, Elon picked up five victories in CAA play, earning the most in four years of competition in the CAA. James Madison advances to Friday's CAA Semifinals and will take on second-seeded Towson at 4 p.m. The Dukes are now 21-5 on the year.
 
THE RUNDOWN
Elon took the opening set of the match by holding off four set points before going on a 3-0 run to take it 30-28. Elon opened the day on a 9-3 run before the Dukes answered with a 4-0 stretch to force an Elon timeout a 9-7. The Phoenix kept JMU at arm's length before going on a 4-1 run to get back to a four-point lead at 16-12. Though JMU came back to take a 22-20 lead, Elon responded with a 4-1 run to get its first set point at 24-23, but Sarah Martin came up with a kill to tie it at 24-all. The two teams traded the next eight points before Elon went on a run with a pair of kills by Kam Terry and an attack error by Bryn Recker to win the set.
 
Though Alexa Pavlick opened the second set with a kill, JMU broke out with a 10-1 run, forcing Elon to burn both of its timeouts. The Phoenix made its way back within six and kept it a six-point margin until JMU pulled away again with a 6-2 run to lead by as many as 12 on the way to the 25-13 set win.
 
A very tight third set started with a 4-0 JMU run that brought a Phoenix timeout. Out of the break, Elon went on a 6-0 run to regain the lead and the two teams went back and forth from there. Though Elon held a one-point lead late at 20-19, JMU closed the set with a 6-1 run to take the set 25-21 and a 2-1 lead.
 
Elon didn't go quietly, though, and ultimately forced a fifth set after taking a tight fourth. The Phoenix jumped out to a 5-1 lead early thanks to a pair of kills by Sydney Busa, a kill and ace by Terry and an error by JMU. Madison fought back to take a three-point lead at 11-8, but Elon answered to tie the set at 13-all. From there, Elon and James Madison went back and forth before a 3-0 Elon run put it up 22-20. After a JMU timeout, the Dukes won three consecutive points to lead 23-22, but Elon closed the set with a 3-0 run to take it 25-23.
 
In the fifth set, the two teams traded points with neither side able to go up by more than one until JMU used a 3-0 run to take an 8-6 lead to the changeover. Out of the stoppage, Elon came back within one at 9-8, but the Dukes closed the match on a 6-1 run to win the final set 15-9.
 
HIGHLIGHTS
In her final collegiate match, Busa finished with 23 kills and 22 digs. Terry also had a stellar afternoon with 19 kills and a career-high-tying 17 digs to go with two aces. Courtney Carpenter also set a new career high for kills with 13 to go with six digs and three blocks. Kodi Garcia posted a 51-assist, 16 dig double-double and Erin Kelly matched her career high of 15 digs for the second time in the month of November. Maddie Jaudon led Elon with 24 digs.
 
Bryn Recker paced JMU with 22 kills to go with eight digs. Kelly Vahos finished with a 13-kill, 16-dig double-double while Liv Crawley added 12 kills, three blocks and three digs. M'Kaela White also posted 10 kills with a match-high seven blocks. Martin had a team-high 32 assists with six blocks and Taylor Austin added 34 digs in the win.
 
NOTES
-Busa finishes her career with 1,361 kills. That puts her fifth in the program's all-time record book for most kills in a career. Busa also ends her four-year career with 1,147 digs. That number is good for the 10th-most in program history. With 518 kills this season, she finishes with the third-most kills in a campaign in team history and has the most in a season since Elon moved to Division I.
-Garcia's Rookie of the Year campaign comes to an end with 1,279 assists. That number puts her tied with Kate Hart's 2003 mark for the second-most assists in a season in Elon history. It also ties Hart for the most in a season since Elon became a Division I program.
-Jaudon closes her junior season with 1,434 career digs. The total puts her fourth in program history. She will enter her senior campaign chasing down Wendy Schott's third-place mark of 1,793 from 1994-97. Jaudon's 530 digs throughout the season finishes as the fifth-most in a single season and falls just a few short of the most in a Division I campaign for the Phoenix to date.
-Terry will enter her senior season needing just 13 kills to reach the 1,000-kill mark in her career. She is also just 57 digs away from reaching 700 for her career. Terry's 439 kills this season checks in as the eighth-most in a campaign in program history and as the third-most since Elon joined the Division I ranks.
-This season against JMU, the Phoenix was swept 3-0 in its first meeting in Alumni Gym in September before pushing the Dukes to four sets in Harrisonburg in October. Thursday's five-set loss, though hard to swallow, marks the second time in 10 meetings Elon has taken JMU to five sets with the first occasions coming back on Nov. 2, 2014, at home.
 
UP NEXT
Though the season ends with a tough defeat, the future is bright for the Phoenix with a move to Schar Center set for the 2018 campaign. While it loses a First Team All-CAA performer and its two senior captains, Elon will bring back the 2017 CAA Rookie of the Year in Garcia, the team's second-leading hitter in Terry, its leading blocker in Carpenter and its libero in Jaudon, along with numerous key pieces that played a big role for the team in 2017.