HARRISONBURG, Va. – Despite a couple of close sets, Elon University volleyball dropped its conference match at James Madison 3-0 on Friday night, Nov. 8 at Sinclair Gymnasium. 
 
"We played with a lot of intensity tonight throughout the entire match," said head coach Mary Tendler. "I like how we competed. We took advantage of a lot of offensive opportunities, but we need to be smarter in our shot selection. We look forward to another battle on Sunday."

With the loss, the Phoenix drops to 12-16 overall and 6-8 in the CAA.
 
JMU 3, Elon 0 | 22-25, 17-25, 22-25
THE RUNDOWN
The Dukes (16-7, 10-3) used a pair of 4-0 runs to jump out to an early 10-3 lead in the opening set. Later, a pair of Haylie Clark kills and two more from Kellyn Trowse highlighted a 5-0 push that wrestled away control, 18-17. Clark later set up Trowse to make it a 21-20 Elon advantage, but JMU came out of a timeout with four unanswered and took the first set point, 25-22.

In Set Two, a 6-0 spurt allowed the home team to pull away, 16-8. A Natalie Cummins and Julia Crabtree block closed the gap at 18-13. A Leah Daniel kill made it 19-14, but JMU earned the next three points and a 25-17 decision gave the Dukes the 2-0 lead.

The third set looked a lot like the first as JMU went up 10-5. A pair of errors by the Dukes and a Kodi Garcia service ace narrowed the gap at 18-15. Elon then put a scare into JMU down the stretch as Nori Thomas converted an attack and the Dukes gave up a pair of free points. The 3-0 run sent the purple and gold back to their bench as Elon trailed 23-21. However, JMU secured the final two points for another 25-22 result.
 
HIGHLIGHTS
Trowse led Elon on the night as the sophomore from Tampa, Fla. posted a .217 clip with nine kills and nine digs. She also had an assist and a service ace. Daniel followed with eight kills, three digs, and three blocks. Thomas scored eight kills, Garcia reached 15 assists and served one ace with six digs, and Clark added 13 assists and four digs. Isabella Seman recorded eight digs, and Cummins made four blocks.

NOTES
-JMU improves to 14-0 in the all-time series.
-The Dukes had four players score at least nine kills, with Briley Brind'Amour tallying a match-high 11.
-Trowse is now four kills away from reaching 500 for her career.
-Cummins has made a block in 10 consecutive matches, while Jenn Krzeminski has recorded a block in nine of the last 10.
-The match featured 13 ties and only six lead changes.
 
UP NEXT
Elon continues its weekend with a trip to Newark, Del. as the Phoenix plays at Delaware Sunday, Nov. 10. The match is scheduled for a 1 p.m. first serve at the Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center.