ELON, N.C. — Caroline Berlekamp and Kyla Johnson pushed the Elon volleyball team's offense to a straight set victory over North Carolina Central on Sunday in its final non-conference match of the regular season.
Elon 3, NC Central 0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-22)
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Caroline Berlekamp powered Elon's offense early, as she registered a career-high six kills in the opening set. Up 10-9, the Phoenix went on an 8-3 run to go ahead 18-12. The Eagles fought back, scoring six of the next eight points. With the score 23-22 in favor of the Phoenix, a service error by the Eagles and a block by Jessica Parker and Berlekamp closed out the set with Elon taking it 25-23.
- The second set saw a back-and-forth battle until the end. Tied at 13 all, the Phoenix went on a 3-0 run fueled by a kill from Berlekamp and a pair of NC Central attacking errors. The Eagles continued to close the gap and eventually tied the score 22-22. A pair of kills from Cameron Lanier and Berlekamp and a block from the same pair would end the set in favor of Elon, 25-22.
- The Eagles came out strong in the third set, gaining a quick 4-0 lead. Elon responded with a 4-0 run to tie the score 4-4. With the Eagles up 15-8, the Phoenix subbed in Johnson. She tallied four blocks and three kills to spark a 17-7 Phoenix run and secured the winning point with a kill to clinch a 25-22 victory.
NOTES
- Caroline Berlekamp broke her career-high kills in the first set as she tallied six. She finished the match with a team-high 13 kills. Lanier had 10 kills and Sydney Love finished with six.
- Jessica Parker paced the Phoenix with a career-high 30 assists. The freshman has finished with at least 15 assists in seven of Elon's nine matches this season.
- Jordan Gower led the maroon and gold with 14 digs. For the sixth time this season, Gower had double-digit digs.
- Lanier led the Phoenix in blocks with seven. Kyla Johnson, who celebrated a birthday Sunday, and Berlekamp both tallied four blocks.
- Lindsey Harris recorded the only ace for the Phoenix.
- As a team, the Phoenix outpaced the Eagles in kills (45-32), hitting percentage (.219-.130), digs (47-43) and blocks (9-5).
- With the win, Elon finishes its non-conference slate with a 3-6 record.
FROM HEAD COACH MARY TENDLER
"We showed some consistency this weekend by winning both matches by 3-0 scores. Loved to see this team refuse to lose that third set after digging ourselves into a hole. We dominated in the middle today with the help of some good ball control.
Caroline Berlekamp was unstoppable and
Kyla Johnson came off the bench and made some huge plays. It's good to have some momentum going into our first conference weekend."
UP NEXT
- Elon kicks off conference play next weekend, when the team travels to Hofstra. The Phoenix and Pride will play at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16 and Sunday, Sept 17, in Hempstead, N.Y.
--ELON--
