Elon Volleyball Drops Five-Set Match at Chattanooga

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Elon and Chattanooga battled on the volleyball court for five sets as the Lady Mocs took the win over Elon, 3-2 (17-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-23, 14-16), tonight, Nov. 3, in Maclellan Gym. The Phoenix is now 14-15 (7-7 SoCon), while UTC improves to 12-17 (6-8 SoCon).

“Tonight was a battle between two really young teams,” said Elon head coach Mary Tendler. “We knew we were in for a hard fought match and that’s what we got from start to finish. The momentum went back and fourth, and unfortunately for us, Chattanooga made the final push to win the match.”

Freshman Megan Gravley recorded 15 kills for the Phoenix, while sophomore Kris Harris had 14. Sophomore Chanelle Smith tallied her second straight double-double (eighth of the season) with 11 kills and 14 digs. On defense, junior Maggie Reichard had a career-high 28 digs. Harris led Elon at the net with seven blocks.

Kills by Harris, Gravley, Celia Rose Eddy and Ana Nicksic put the Phoenix up 8-4 early in the first set. The Lady Mocs came back to tie the set at 14-all and then went on to score five straight to lead 19-14 and force Elon’s final timeout of the set. Chattanooga would close out the set on a 6-2 run to win 25-17.

With the second set tied at six-all, the maroon and gold used a 4-1 run off kills by C. Smith and Gravley, a block by Eddy and Chelsea Rafetto and an ace by Harris to take a three-point lead, 10-7. The Lady Mocs would tie the set at 10-all and pull out to a four-point advantage, 17-13. Kills by Eddy, Gravley, Harris and Nicksic helped the Phoenix to a 7-3 run to knot the set at 20. Chattanooga would win five of the last six points to take the set, 25-21.

Elon opened the third set with an 8-3 lead capped by a kill from Harris. Up by four, 12-8, the Phoenix scored four unanswered off kills by Nicksic, Allison Johnson, an ace by Deatsch and a block by Johnson and Harris to extend the advantage to eight, 16-8. The Lady Mocs managed to cut the deficit to two, 20-18, but kills by Eddy and Johnson and an ace by Nicksic gave the Phoenix set point, 24-19, and then the win, 25-19.

The fourth set was extremely close with neither team taking more than a three-point lead though the entire set. With the score tied at 22-all, kills by C. Smith and Gravley gave the Phoenix set point, 24-22. Chattanooga would score the next point but a miscue by the Lady Mocs’ Heather Parman gave Elon the 25-23 victory to force a fifth and final set.

Elon took the lead, 10-6, to start the fifth set off kills by Eddy, C. Smith and Harris, forcing Chattanooga to call its only two timeouts. The Lady Mocs came back to tie the set at 12-all as the teams would trade the next four points to keep the score knotted at 14. Chattanooga scored the final two points to take the 16-14 set win and the match, 3-2.

Elon will play its final two regular season matches of the season next week. The Phoenix will play at rival UNCG on Thursday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. before traveling to Charleston, S.C., to take on The Citadel on Saturday, Nov. 10.