ELON, N.C. – An even balance on offense and defense helped the Elon volleyball team to a sweep of Chattanooga, 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-19), tonight, Oct. 5, in Alumni Gym. The Phoenix improves to 9-11 (2-3 SoCon), while the Lady Mocs fall to 8-12 (2-3 SoCon).
“We played a great all-around match tonight,” said Elon head coach Mary Tendler. “I’ve been waiting for our offense and defense to come together at the same time. Ana (Nicksic) did a great job getting all our hitters involved in the offense and our ball control was very consistent throughout the match.”
The Phoenix defense out blocked the Lady Mocs 8-0 with senior Celia Rose Eddy accounting for four blocks. Sophomore Kris Harris and freshman Ana Nicksic each finished the night with three blocks.
Eddy also led the maroon and gold on offense with a career-high 14 kills. Freshman Megan Gravley tallied nine kills off 16 attempts with no errors to hit .562, while Harris also recorded nine kills.
With the Phoenix down one in the first set, 6-5, two kills by Eddy and one by Harris helped Elon score five unanswered to take a four-point advantage and force a Chattanooga timeout. After the Lady Mocs closed the gap to two, 17-15, kills by Chanelle Smith and Gravley and an ace by Ali Deatsch put the Phoenix back up by four, 20-16. With Elon leading 21-17, the maroon and gold ended the set on four straight points off kills by Eddy and Gravley, an ace by Nicksic and a block by Eddy and D. Smith to win 25-17.
Kills from Harris and C. Smith and a block by Nicksic and Harris put Elon up by five, 10-5, at the beginning of the second set. With the Phoenix leading by six, 14-8, the serve of Maggie Reichard helped Elon to a 4-0 run and claimed a 10-point advantage, 18-8. Elon held on and took a two-set lead after a 25-17 second-set victory.
The Lady Mocs kept the third set tight at the beginning with six ties before the score reached seven-all. From there the Phoenix went on a 6-2 run with the help of blocks by Harris, Gravley, Eddy and Nicksic and two kills by Harris to take the lead by four, 13-9. Chattanooga pulled within one, 15-14, before three straight by the maroon and gold put the Phoenix back up by four, 18-14. With Elon leading by three, 20-17, the Phoenix scored five of the last seven points to win the set off a kill by Eddy, 25-19, and take the match sweep.
Elon will host Samford tomorrow, Oct. 6, in a 7 p.m. match in Alumni Gym.