CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Trailing after three sets of action,the Elon University volleyball team rebounded to defeat USC Upstate 3-2 (18-25, 25-16, 17-25, 25-18, 15-12) Saturday, Aug. 25, to sweep the Charlotte Invitational inside Halton Arena.
“I’m proud of the team for pulling out the five-set win today,” said Elon head coach Mary Tendler. “We didn’t play as well as we did Friday, but we stepped it up at the end of the match and made come clutch plays. I liked how confident we looked as we were closing out the match. We learned a lot about our team in this first tournament. We definitely have some areas to improve on in practice as we prepare for our first match in Schar Center on Tuesday night, but we’re happy to be heading home 3-0 on opening weekend.”
THE RUNDOWN
After losing the third set 25-17, Elon opened the fourth on a mission in jumping out to a 10-4 lead thanks to three Madi Genaway kills, two from Kellyn Trowse and an ace from Kodi Garcia. The Spartans battled back to cut the Phoenix lead to just one at 15-14, but Elon answered with a 6-0 run and went on to use a 4-1 run to close the set and force a fifth.
In the final frame, USC Upstate opened up a 5-2 lead, then continued it to a 9-6 advantage. Following Elon’s second timeout of the set, the Phoenix went on a 3-0 run to bring a Spartan timeout before going on a match-ending 5-1 run that saw Trowse close the day with a kill.
HIGHLIGHTS
Genaway had a career match with 17 kills and 12 digs for her first-career double-double. Eleven of her 17 kills came as Elon was making its comeback in the final two sets of the match. She has now recorded a career-best 12 digs in back-to-back matches. Kellyn Trowse also had 10 kills on the day to go with an early-season best eight digs and three blocks. Leah Daniel also had eight kills and four digs to set new highs in both categories early in her career. Garcia notched her 14th-career double-double with 40 assists and 16 digs to go with a career-high four aces while Maddie Jaudon had a strong finish to the weekend with 25 digs.
USC Upstate was led by a 15-kill, 17-dig afternoon from Payton Duncan. Mackenzie Lauer also had 10 kills with four digs and three blocks. Mackenzie Marcum closed with 17 digs and three aces and Madison Haake had a team-best 39 assists.
NOTES
-Maddie Jaudon increased her career dig total to 1,497, which stands 296 away from Wendy Schott’s third-place mark of 1,793.
-Jaudon closed the first weekend of the season averaging 4.92 digs per set. She posted 64 on opening weekend.
-With seven kills in the match, Kam Terry is now at 1,015 kills for her career. She is just 87 away from placing herself among the Top 10 in program history, chasing down Britany Westphal’s 1,102 kills with the program.
-Kodi Garcia posted 117 assists on opening weekend to average 9.0 per set. She also had 35 digs and tied Isabella Seman for a team-high five aces.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Coming after the conclusion of the tournament…
UP NEXT
Elon will come home Tuesday, Aug. 28, for the first-ever match inside the program’s new home, Schar Center. First serve is set for 7 p.m. against North Carolina A&T.