The Elon University volleyball team is entering the 2025 season with a new face at the helm.
Head coach Matt Troy is entering his first season as a coach for the Phoenix after coaching at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, where he led them to a 2019 NCAA Division III Championship amid a 151-17 record.
Troy said the players immediately welcomed him in at Elon and he didn’t feel like a stranger.
“There was already a solid culture coming in, the players are very connected with one another,” Troy said. “I just made it a goal to really try and get to know them as best I could between individual meetings or hanging out with them in a group in the gym.”
Troy arrived in late January, giving him time throughout the spring to get to know the players on an individual basis, according to co-captain Shannon O’Laughlin. He will succeed former head coach Mary Tendler, who coached Elon for 22 seasons and won more than 300 games.
“It made coming into preseason super exciting since we already had that relationship built with him and then we could focus on creating the culture that we want this team to have,” O’Laughlin said.
Since arriving, Troy said he has worked to help improve the non-physical aspects of the players’ game. This includes mentality training that works on figuring out how to navigate the emotions athletes have throughout a match and leadership training that helps improve the team’s communication and motivation.
Elon has begun the season with a 1-5 start. The team’s schedule includes three matchups against 2024 NCAA Tournament teams, but Troy said they aim to treat those matches the same as they do against any other team.
“We want to treat every opponent like they are an NCAA Tournament team and our goal is that every game feels the same as much as possible,” Troy said. “We don’t want to ebb and flow too much, we want to come out and play our style of volleyball.”
This consistency will be crucial to maintain for an Elon team that struggled to stay consistent and keep momentum up last year. The Phoenix began last season with an 11-8 record, but stumbled its way to the finish line, losing their final 10 games.
Sophomore Casey Brower, who is coming off a freshman season where she notched 124 digs — a defensive play where a player keeps the ball from hitting the ground after an attack. Brower also had 15 assists last year and said the team has worked on implementing new offensive schemes and improving the team’s passing during the offseason.
“Passing was a big focus for our team and just making sure that we could give our setters and hitters the opportunity to run these new offenses,” Brower said.
Senior Clara Simmons, one of two seniors on the roster, said staying in shape has been a focus for her in the offseason so she can avoid injuries throughout the long, 27-match season. Simmons is one of three captains on the team and is coming off a 2024 season where she set a new career-high in aces and amassed 131 kills — third most on the team.
Along with four freshmen, a graduate student transfer joins the Phoenix this year. Simrin Carlsen spent four years at Johns Hopkins with Troy and came along with him once he arrived at Elon. She had 1,000 career kills at Johns Hopkins and was named to the All-Centennial Conference Second Team last season.
Troy said Carlsen knows him well and hopes to be a good resource for her teammates as they adjust to getting to know Troy.
“The players have a resource for times that they need to figure out coach. She can probably be like, ‘Oh this is what he means or this is what he’s saying,’ or potential things like that,” Troy said.
Troy said the goal is for the team to make the Coastal Athletic Association playoffs. CAA play begins Sept. 19. In order to accomplish this goal, the Phoenix worked on a variety of things in the offseason, such as their offensive tempo. Troy said they specifically worked on improving the team’s defense.
“The big thing is defense and our serve receive are the two areas we are focused on the most,” Troy said. “The offense has looked pretty good so we have just been trying to hone in on that aspect because we know if our back row is clean and can get a lot of opportunities for our front row, we’ll be able to put a lot of pressure on some opponents that we play.”
The team’s next game is Sept. 11 against Clemson during the Clemson/Wofford Tournament.