Elon 3, North Carolina A&T 0

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Elon volleyball team played three sets of strong volleyball to sweep North Carolina A&T (25-20, 25-14, 25-14) tonight, Oct. 18. The Phoenix improves to 15-9 overall with the victory over the Aggies. 

Juniors Allison Johnson and Carly Ledbetter each finished with five kills, while senior Traci Stewart and freshmen Chanelle Smith, Danielle Smith and Kris Harris all recorded four kills each. Sophomore Maggie Reichard tallied a career-high two service aces.

On defense, junior Alli Nogi recorded a career-high four blocks, while sophomore Cali Estes finished with two.

Elon started off the match with a 4-0 run off kills from D. Smith, Stewart and an ace by Reichard. Ahead five points later in the set, 10-5, the Phoenix scored four straight to take a nine-point lead. The Aggies put together a 3-1 run to cut the deficit to six, 17-11, but a kill by C. Smith put the maroon and gold up 18-11, forcing N.C. A&T head coach Hal Clifton to call his second timeout of the set. Out of the timeout, the Phoenix scored off a block by Lemke and Estes to move the score to 19-11. From there the Aggies used a 4-1 run to cut the Elon lead to four, 20-16, and cause an Elon timeout. N.C. A&T pulled within three, 21-18, but the Phoenix scored four of the final six points to take the set win, 25-20.

With the score tied at two-all at the beginning of the second set, the Phoenix scored four unanswered, which included kills by Eddy and Harris, to go up 6-2. A three-point run off kills by Harris and Ledbetter and an ace by Harris gave Elon a nine-point advantage, 14-5. The Aggies followed with a three-point run of its own to cut the disadvantage to six, 14-8. The maroon and gold took the momentum from there with a 9-6 run. A kill and an ace by Nogi ended the set, 25-14, in favor of the Phoenix for a 2-0 match lead.

In the third set, a block by Johnson and Nogi put the Phoenix up early, 2-1. A kill and an ace by D. Smith helped move Elon up by three, 6-3. Up by four, 10-6, the maroon and gold scored three straight to make it 13-6 off a kill by Ledbetter and two blocks, one by D. Smith and Nogi and the other by Ledbetter and Nogi. The Phoenix built up a ten point lead, 21-11, off an 8-4 run that included kills by D. Smith, Johnson and Eddy. A kill by Nogi won the set, 25-14, and preserved the match sweep for the Phoenix.

 

Chattanooga 1, Mercer 3

MACON, Ga. - The Chattanooga Mocs (5-18, 3-5 SoCon) volleyball team was unable to come back at Mercer (8-15, 1-5 A-Sun) after dropping the first two sets in a 3-1 (25-19, 25-16, 20-25, 25-22) loss on Tuesday night at the University Center. Sophomore outside Jennifer Kuroski paced the offense with a match-high 12 kills, while junior libero Paula Passmore tallied 31 digs.

Generating 11 kills was junior middle blocker Christina Teter. One positive from the match could be taken from the six kills by junior outside Meagan Ernd.

Another complete effort on the court was provided by junior outside Heather Parman with seven kills and 12 digs. Running the offense was sophomore setter Bridget Camacho with 37 assists and eight digs.

Also contributing on the defensive effort was Ernd with nine and sophomore Andrea Johnson with eight.

The Mocs did register seven blocks during the contest led by freshman middle blocker Kasey Talley with four, while Teter added three including one solo.

Mercer was led by Carolina Carlton with 13 kills along with Ana Coursey with 12 kills. Totaling 56 assists in the match was the duo of Monica Sanchez and Madeline Dolny. The Bears defense was paced by Charlotte Harris and Jaime Duffy with 24 and 23 digs, respectively.

Falling behind early in the first set was Chattanooga, 13-9, but a timeout changed the momentum in favor of the Mocs. The squad rallied to six-straight points to take a 15-13 lead on kills by Parman and Camacho (2) and a service ace from Johnson.

The Bears would go on, however, to close out the frame 25-19. Chattanooga posted 14 kills, but was unable to overcome six mistakes.

Mercer cruised to a 25-16 victory in set two, but the Mocs did comeback scoring six of the final eight points heading into the intermission.

Building another early lead was Mercer, who began set three with a 16-9 lead. Following a timeout by coach Filar, Chattanooga came all the way back aided by strong serving from Johnson and Ernd to notch a 25-20 win. The 16-4 run included three kills from Teter, while Kuroski and Parman tallied one each. The Mocs were able to capitalize on a number of mistakes made by their opponent.

During the fourth set, both teams battled point-for-point for the first 29 games, but Mercer used a 6-1 run to take a decisive 21-16 advantage. Chattanooga would get within two at 23-21 on a kill by Talley, but the Bears would close out the match with a 25-22 win.