LYNCHBURG, Va. – Elon University volleyball opened the Liberty Invitational on Friday, Sept. 1, with a strong first set against former Southern Conference rival Furman, but the Paladins answered Elon's hot start to take a 3-1 (18-25, 25-23, 25-14, 25-18) win inside the Vines Center.
 
"We had a great start to the match," said Elon head coach Mary Tendler. "I liked that we were making it difficult for Furman to get kills. As the match went along, our defense struggled due to Furman's improved ball control. We came back with a strong start to the fourth set, which was good to see, but we need to show more consistency in our matches Saturday against Maryland and Liberty."
 
The loss ends Elon's brief two-match winning streak and drops Elon to 3-2 on the season. Furman earned its second win of the year and improved to 2-2.
 
THE RUNDOWN
Out of the gate, Furman doubled up the Phoenix in the early going at 8-4. But the lead didn't last long with Elon slowly clawing its way back in cutting the lead to just two on multiple occasions until it went on a 7-1 run to take the score from 14-10 Paladins to 17-15 Elon. After a Furman timeout, the Paladins battled back to tie the match at 17-all, but Elon closed the set on an 8-1 run to go up 1-0 in the match. In all, Elon went on a 15-4 run to close the set after trailing 14-10.
 
The second set was tightly contested throughout with neither side able to get more than three points ahead of its opposition. Furman led 6-5 in the early going before Elon went on a 5-1 run to take a 10-7 lead. The two teams traded the next four points before Furman went on a 5-1 run of its own to take a slight 14-13 lead. Elon immediately answered with a 5-1 run to take an 18-15 lead, drawing a Furman timeout. Out of the stoppage, the Paladins won each of the next three points to tie the set at 18-all. After Elon regained the lead at 20-19 by winning two of the next three points, Furman went on a 4-1 run to take a 23-21 lead, drawing an Elon timeout. On the other side of the break, the two sides traded points with Furman clinching the 25-23 set win.
 
Over the course of the final two sets, Furman kept Elon at arm's length throughout both sets to claim the match. In the third set, the Paladins went up 12-8, bringing and Elon timeout. Furman continued its run after the timeout in going up 15-8 and didn't look back from there on the way to a 25-14 win. The fourth set was competitive throughout with the two teams tied up throughout the opening half of the frame before Furman went on a bit of a run to go up 16-13. After an Elon timeout, Furman continued to keep Elon at a distance on the way to holding off the Phoenix 25-18 to win the match.
 
HIGHLIGHTS
Kam Terry and Sydney Busa led the Phoenix attack, both recording double-doubles. Terry finished with a team-best 20 kills to go with 11 digs while Busa had a stellar 19 kills and 18 digs. Kodi Garcia averaged nearly 10 assists per set, finishing with 39 in the match to go with eight digs. Maddie Jaudon finished with a team-high 19 digs while Courtney Carpenter had eight kills and four blocks. Nori Thomas also added three blocks in the match.
 
Furman's Jamila Johnson led all players with 23 kills. She also had 10 digs. Christen Sikora added 13 kills and 13 digs. Hunter Thompson added 50 assists and 15 digs and Meg DeMaar finished with 29 digs. In all, five players finished with double-digit digs and Furman finished with 84 in the match.
 
UP NEXT
The Phoenix will look to get back to winning ways Saturday, Sept. 2, when it battles Maryland at 10 a.m. before closing the Liberty Invitational against Liberty at 7 p.m. at the Vines Center.