College of Charleston 3, Elon 0
ELON, N.C. ? The Phoenix volleyball team fell to the reigning SoCon champion College of Charleston 3-0 (20-25, 15-25, 25-20) in SoCon volleyball action Monday evening at Alumni Gym. The loss drops Elon to 15-8 on the year, including a 4-3 mark in the Southern Conference. Charleston improves to 13-6 overall and 6-1 in league play.
Consecutive kills by Ginny Phillips gave the Cougars the first two points of set one. A Sarah Schermerhorn kill put the Phoenix on the board. The teams tied at four and would tie twice more over the next four possessions until a Phoenix error broke the deadlock and gave Charleston a one-point lead. The Cougars extended that lead to two, but a kill by Mandy Wilson knotted the score for the fourth time of the set. The teams kept the match close, tying four more times, but grabbed a four-point lead at the 20-16 mark. Elon scored three straight that forced a CofC timeout leading 20-19. Elon brought the score within one on a kill by Wilson at 20-21, but could do no more damage as Charleston took the set 25-20.
The teams kept the score close for the opening possessions of set two before a kill by Emily Shelton sparked a five-point run that gave Charleston a 8-4 advantage and caused the Phoenix to use its first timeout. The Cougars added to their lead, bringing the score 12-6 before an attack error by Phillips allowed Elon to score two points. Charleston used back-to-back three and four-point runs to extend its lead to 18-9. Elon scored three straight behind the service of Lizzie West that brought the set to 12-18. The Phoenix scored only three more times, highlighted by a block by Caroline Lemke and Traci Stewart, as CofC won the second set 25-15.
Elon could not swing the momentum in set three as CofC scored seven of the opening nine points of the set to force an early Phoenix timeout. Trailing 10-5, Elon fought back and brought the game within four at the 11-7 mark. Charleston answered with four points of its own to take a 15-7 lead. A kill by Lemke allowed the Phoenix to score four straight, including two off of back-to-back blocks by Lauren Copenhagen and Stewart, to narrow the Charleston’s lead to 15-11 and force the Cougars to use a timeout. The team’s traded points on the next seven possession, but Elon could not come within less that four (18-14). Elon continued to fight back and brought the set within reach at 20-22 before Charleston scored the final three points to take the set 25-20 and the game 3-0.
Leading the team in kills was Wilson with eight. Lemke was second on the team in kills with seven, while Schermerhorn added five to the total. Emily Regan paced the offensive effort with 23 assists. West had the teams only service ace of the night.
Kelley Blakewood tallied 20 digs to lead the team. As a team, the Phoenix earned seven total blocks, including four assisted blocks by Copenhagen, Lemke and Stewart. Schermerhorn also notched one assisted block.
For Charleston, it was Emily Sawin who came up big with 13 kills in 32 attempts, including one error, for an attack percentage of .375. Phillips added 11 kills. Cole Dawley earned two kills and led the match in assists with 33. Emily Shelton led the match in service aces with two.
Defensively, Charleston recorded nine total blocks, led by Elyse Chubb with seven (two solo, five assisted). Phillips also tallied three blocks, including one solo. Shelton had team-high 14 digs to go along with her four kills.
Elon travels to Davidson this Saturday for a 2 p.m. showdown with the Wildcats. The team will continue their road trip when they travel to Statesboro, Ga. for a 2 p.m. match on Sunday. Results of each match will be available at www.elonphoenix.com .