CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Elon University volleyball took down Presbyterian and Charlotte in impressive fashion Friday, Aug. 24, to open the 2018 campaign, beating the Blue Hose 3-1 (25-22, 25-18, 18-25, 25-20) and Charlotte (25-22, 25-19, 13-25, 25-17). Along the way, senior outside hitter Kam Terry recorded her 1,000th-career kill in the first set of Elon’s victory over Charlotte.
Final Stats (Presbyterian) | Final Stats (Charlotte)
“What a great team effort today,” said Elon head coach Mary Tendler. “Everyone was ready to play whether they were on the court most of the day or just playing a few points. We worked so hard in preseason, it’s nice to see that hard work pay off by going 2-0 on our first day.”
Elon 3, Presbyterian 1 (25-22, 25-18, 18-25, 25-20)
THE RUNDOWN
The Phoenix jumped out to a slim lead from the start, going up 4-2 before extending it to 9-6 and 11-8 before the Blue Hose went on a 5-1 run to lead 12-11 to bring an Elon timeout. From there, Presbyterian never led by more than two until Elon went on a 5-0 run that turned a 19-18 deficit into a 23-19 lead. Though Presbyterian brought the set back within two at 24-22, Terry put down her fifth kill of the opening frame to put the Phoenix up 1-0.
In the second, Presbyterian opened on a 4-1 run before Elon answered with a 5-0 run of its own thanks to a kill by Natalie Cummins, an ace from Kellyn Trowse and three Presbyterian errors. While the Blue Hose drew an Elon timeout up one at 10-9, the Phoenix answered with a 6-2 run out of the break to go up 15-12 and kept the pedal to the metal in continuing the run to 10-3 to put the set out of reach. In the end, Isabella Seman notched one of her three aces in the match to finish off the set.
The two teams went back and forth throughout the third set, but Presbyterian went on a 4-0 run to go up 20-16 late before closing with a 5-1 run. While Presbyterian opened the fourth set on an 8-1 run, Elon regained control of the match with a big 6-0 run that expanded to 16-2 and 19-3 on the way to the largest lead of the match at nine before closing out the set at 25-20.
HIGHLIGHTS
Terry led the Phoenix with 10 kills to go with seven digs and three blocks. Alexa Pavlick had a strong match with eight kills and one error, finishing with a .412 hitting percentage. She also had a career-best seven blocks on the afternoon. Elizabeth Coil also had six kills with three blocks while Maddie Jaudon closed with 17 digs. Kodi Garcia recorded her 12th-career double-double with 33 assists and 11 digs.
Elon 3, Charlotte 1 (25-22, 25-19, 13-25, 25-17)
THE RUNDOWN
Carrying momentum from its strong fourth set against Presbyterian, Elon raced out to an 8-3 lead on Charlotte behind a pair of kills from Madi Genaway, one from Pavlick and one from Trowse. The 49ers responded with a 5-0 run of their own to knot the match at 8-all and the two battled from there with neither side able to win more than two consecutive points until Elon took three in a row to go up 24-21. Genaway then put down her fourth kill of the set to close the frame at 25-22.
Like the first set, Elon started fast with a 7-0 lead thanks to four Charlotte errors and kills by Terry, Trowse and Pavlick. Charlotte never could fully recover from the tough start, coming no closer than four on multiple occasions before Elon pushed the lead to a set-high eight at 22-14 before going on to win 25-19 thanks to a Pavlick kill.
Though struggling through the third set with Charlotte winning 25-13, Elon answered by jumping out to a 10-5 lead thanks to three more kills from Trowse. Following a 49er timeout, Charlotte made its way back and got within two on multiple occasions, but Elon used a 5-0 run to take a 16-14 lead to a 21-14 advantage and extended the run to 8-2 to lead 24-16 with Leah Daniel recording the winning kill in the end.
HIGHLIGHTS
Trowse led the Phoenix with 16 kills with just four errors, finishing with a .353 hitting percentage to go with seven digs and four blocks. Terry was the only other Phoenix with double-digit kills, finishing with 11 to go with three digs. Jaudon had 22 digs with both Seman and Genaway recording 12 apiece. Genaway’s 12 mark a career-high for the Medford, N.Y., native. She also had seven kills on the night. Garcia closed with 44 assists to average 11.0 per set. Coil’s night culminated with seven kills to go with five blocks, falling one block short of matching her career high.
NOTES
-Now with 1,008 kills, Terry is just 94 away from placing herself among the Top 10 in program history. She’s chasing down Britany Westphal, who recorded 1,102 kills with the program.
-Terry is also now just 57 digs away from 700 in her career, sitting with 643 over the course of 94 matches.
-Maddie Jaudon increased her career dig total to 1,472, which stands 321 away from Wendy Schott’s third-place mark of 1,793.
-Elon last swept its opening-day matches in 2011 when it beat Hampton and Florida Gulf Coast in the Hilton RTP/NCCU Tournament. It has only placed two matches on opening day twice since the 2011 campaign.
-The Phoenix is now 5-2 against its in-state rival Charlotte in its last seven meetings.
UP NEXT
Elon will look to finish a clean sweep of the Charlotte Invitational on Saturday, Aug. 25, when it takes on USC Upstate at 3 p.m.