MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. – The Elon volleyball team earned its first sweep of the season with a 3-0 victory over Robert Morris on Friday in the Phoenix's opening match of the Chick-fil-A Pittsburgh Classic.
Elon (2-3) saw
Cameron Lanier lead the Phoenix offense for the fifth straight match, as the senior recorded 16 kills for the Maroon and Gold while hitting .344.
Caroline Berlekamp added a season-high nine kills and hit .412, while
Allie Schultz contributed seven kills.
Kayla Palmer directed the Phoenix attack with 24 assists, followed by
April Rice with 17. Defensively,
Casey Brower had 15 digs, while
Catherine Rucker recorded a team-high four total blocks.
Shannon O'Laughlin added three service aces.
The Colonials (0-4) were led by Natalie Stepanovich's 11 kills, followed by Lauren Decker with 10. Kenlee Barnard added a match-high 31 assists.
THE RUNDOWN
- The Phoenix opened the first set with a 6-2 lead, but the Colonials rallied to take a 9-8 advantage following an Elon attack error. The Maroon and Gold responded with six unanswered points to regain the lead and build a 14-9 advantage, forcing an RMU timeout along the way. Elon maintained its five-point cushion at the media timeout, 15-10. The Colonials trimmed the deficit to two, 18-16, following consecutive service aces, but the Phoenix answered and pushed its lead back to four, 23-19, on a Berlekamp block. Elon closed out the frame with two of the final three points, including an Allie Schultz service ace on set point, to earn a 25-20 victory.
- Elon fell behind early, 4-1, before rallying to trim its deficit to one at 5-4. The Colonials used a 5-2 run to take a 10-6 advantage, but the Phoenix battled back to pull within one, 12-11, on a Lanier kill. After RMU pushed its lead back to two at 13-11, Elon answered with a 5-1 spurt to take a 16-14 advantage. The Colonials battled back to tie the set at 19-all, but the Phoenix responded with a 4-1 run to move ahead 23-20. A Berlekamp kill gave Elon its first set point at 24-23, but Robert Morris fought off three set points to force a 26-all tie. The Phoenix finally closed out the frame with back-to-back kills from Lanier and Berlekamp to earn a 28-26 victory and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
- The Phoenix raced out to an 8-2 lead in the third set, forcing an RMU timeout. The Colonials scored the next two points, but Elon responded with three straight to extend its advantage to 11-4. The Phoenix carried a 15-7 lead into the media timeout following an Allie Schultz solo block. Elon continued to pull away, taking an 18-9 advantage on a Schultz kill before winning the race to 20 on a Lanier kill for a 20-10 lead. Robert Morris made a late push to trim the deficit to six, 22-16, but the Phoenix reached match point at 24-16. Elon eventually closed out the set 25-18 on a block from Rice and Rucker to complete the sweep.
UP NEXT
- The Phoenix returns to the court this evening, facing Duquesne in its second match of the tournament. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse and will stream on ESPN+.
STAY POSTED
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-- ELON --
