Last night, the Elon University volleyball team made history. Leah Daniels’ 16 kills secured her spot as the university's all-time career kills leader. The Phoenix handed an undefeated Towson University squad its first loss of the season in a nail-biting five set match. The Schar Center was covered top to bottom in pink as the Elon community honored breast cancer awareness. A record was broken. An undefeated team had its first taste of defeat. Emotions were high.
But that was last night, and head coach Mary Tendler will be the first to tell you that you have to have a short memory in a doubleheader, especially against a Towson team that was handed its first loss of the season yesterday.
“This morning, I told our team that we could have played better than we did last night. There were a lot of things that we needed to improve on today,” Tendler said. “I told them that Towson would come out ready to go from the start and that Towson was going to push us, and that we needed to have the right response.”
After having its 18-match losing streak snapped yesterday, Towson took the court ready to play. The Tigers established authority in the first two sets with a 25-15, 25-17 advantage. Elon struggled to defend the net, allowing a combined 26 kills in the first two sets. Adjustments needed to be made to give the Phoenix a fighting chance. Senior libero Jordan Gower led the huddle to open up the third set. The Raleigh native said Elon regrouped after losing the second.
“We knew Towson was going to come out a lot stronger than they did yesterday. We knew that they were going to come out with a lot of fire, which they obviously did in the first two sets,” Gower said. “In between the second and third set, we talked about how we needed to come out with more intensity. We really focused on two things. As a group, we needed to do a better job of defending the net and setting up our outside hitters with good balls. We just focused on playing with more passion and fire in the third set.”
After falling behind early in the third, the Phoenix found its groove, and took the third set 25-23 to force a fourth.
The Phoenix’s momentum came to a halt at the start of the fourth set when middle blocker Jenn Krzeminski and Lily Emlong were assisted off the court with injuries on consecutive plays. While the nature of the pair's injuries is still unclear, the team is hopeful both players will be back at some point this season. Towson went on to win the fourth set and clinch a victory.
The Phoenix will look to bounce back next weekend as they host the College of Charleston Cougars on Oct. 22-23. Tendler said she wants Elon to continue focusing on its defense heading into those matches.
“We’re playing really good volleyball right now. The key for this team is to stay consistent, and that starts with good defense,” Tendler said. “When we play good defense, good things happen. We make big plays, the crowd gets involved, and that affects everyone on our sideline. This was a really emotional weekend. So, we’re going to get some rest. And then we’ll prepare for Charleston.”