ELON, N.C. – Elon University volleyball suffered a 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-20) loss to James Madison on Monday night, Sept. 25, inside Alumni Gym.
 
"We came out very flat and it took us too long to start executing like we are capable, which is not typical of our team," said Elon head coach Mary Tendler. "When you do that against a very good team like James Madison, you will not get favorable results. We will look to have a better start on Thursday night against William & Mary."
 
The loss, Elon's third in the last four matches after a seven-match winning streak, dropped the Phoenix to 11-6 on the season and 1-2 in CAA play. James Madison continued its perfect start to the year, now at 11-0 overall and 2-0 in conference action.
 
THE RUNDOWN
Elon opened the match winning four of the first five points, but James Madison responded with six of the next seven points to take a 7-5 lead. The Phoenix rattled off the next three points to go back up by one, but the Dukes took control of the set with a 9-1 run to take a 16-9 lead on the way to a 25-17 set win.
 
Madison used its momentum from the first set early on in the second, jumping out to a 10-2 advantage. Elon cut the lead in half twice, making it 10-5 and 14-7, but the Dukes continued the strong set on the way to claiming a 25-14 win.
 
In the third set, JMU opened the frame by doubling the Phoenix up at 8-4 before Elon fought back to tie the set at 10 and eventually took a 12-11 lead after back-to-back attack errors by the Dukes. The two teams went back and forth with the set 14-all before James Madison went on a 3-0 run to take a 17-14 lead to bring an Elon timeout. Our of the stoppage, Elon brought the set back within two at 19-17, but JMU won five of the next six points to lead 24-18 and went on to win the final set 25-20.
 
HIGHLIGHTS
Sydney Busa narrowly missed her 12th double-double of the season, finishing with 10 kills and nine digs. Courtney Carpenter had a team-best .231 hitting percentage with six kills in the match while Elizabeth Coil had four kills and four blocks.
 
JMU had a .356 hitting percentage on the night with 42 kills and just 10 errors. Kelly Vahos led the Dukes with 10 kills and two blocks while Bryn Recker added nine kills, four digs and three blocks.  Taylor Gail led JMU with four blocks while Tilbe Yaglioglu led the team with 18 assists.
 
NOTES
-With 10 kills in the match, Busa passed Britany Westphal for ninth place in program history for kills. She has amassed 1,111 in her career. The senior is also now 64 digs away from 1,000 digs.
-Maddie Jaudon's eight digs surpassed Katie Forman's eighth-place number of 1,187. She now stands alone in eighth and is just 10 behind a tie for seventh with Maria LaButto.
-Monday's sweep marks the first time Elon has been swept at home since UNCW beat the Phoenix 25-23, 25-13, 25-17 on Oct. 11, 2015. 
-JMU's .356 hitting percentage is the best by an Elon opponent this season, topping Belmont's .302 hitting percentage on opening day back on Aug. 25. 
 
UP NEXT
The Phoenix will close a four-match homestand on Thursday, Sept. 28, when it welcomes William & Mary to Alumni Gym. First serve is set for 7 p.m. The match is the last of a run where Elon will have played nine of its last 10 matches at home before hitting the road for four in a row and nine of its last 13 on the regular season.