ELON, N.C. – Sophomores
Kyla Johnson and
Cameron Lanier were a brick wall for the Elon University volleyball team in Saturday's match against College of Charleston.
Together the two earned four double blocks against the Cougars, three of which propelled Elon to a 25-22 victory in the second set.
"One of the big things we've been working on in practice is blocking, making sure that we have good block setups and pressing back into the court, and that definitely translated into today," Lanier said. "When KJ and I are up at the net and we know the ball's going outside, we're talking to each other up at the net, telling each other to wait, telling each other to go. It helps keep us together, especially with timing and helps us put up a really good block."
Elon tallied 11 blocks throughout the match, which ties the team's season-high in total blocks. Johnson said the success of the block was a full team effort, as sophomore Caroline Berlekamp and senior Lily Barker picked up three blocks with senior Sydney Love adding two.
"We worked really hard in the beginning of the season, working on our core values, and a lot is trust and togetherness," Johnson said. "I think just having that thought in the back of my head really made me push through."
The four blocks for Lanier marked her season-high. Johnson picked up two more blocks throughout the match as she tied both her season and career-highs with six total blocks.
"It's just trust," Johnson said. "I know Cam [Lanier] will set the block up right, and I've just got to get there and close. We've just got to work on our parts and I know we can do it together."
The match against the Cougars marked Elon's first CAA match of the 2024 season. Although the Phoenix fell 3-1, Johnson said knowing it was a conference match made a difference for the team.
"We are so excited," Johnson said. "Of course, conference is always tougher than preseason. We know the teams are going to be great. We just have to be better."
Elon will be back in Schar Center at 1 p.m. looking to even the series against the Cougars.
"We're super excited to start conference play," Lanier said. "We have some big goals, and I think that we can definitely achieve them, but I'm really excited for the game tomorrow. It's a quick turnaround. You don't have a lot of time to dwell on what happened today, and after today we know what we need to work on against this team…we're just super excited to get back out on the court."
'Rising Phoenix' is a student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students will have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department's various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on X (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Chase Strawser at cstrawser@elon.edu.
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