The Elon University volleyball team lost its fourth straight home game with a 3-0 loss against North Carolina A&T University. Elon fought in most of its sets, losing by two points in each of the first two sets before falling by five in the third. They now fall to 5-16 on the year.
The Phoenix struggled defensively against the Aggies’ offensive attack. Throughout all three sets, N.C. A&T had 56 kills compared to Elon’s 38. Graduate student outside hitter Simrin Carlsen said N.C. A&T was very efficient on offense and managed to utilize all of their players’ strengths.
“We were rotating super quickly, so there weren’t a lot of times where we were able to get runs that lasted more than a couple of points,” Carlsen said.
This was the case during the first set as Elon went on a four-point run to build a late 22-18 lead thanks to multiple kills by senior outside hitter Clara Simmons. However, N.C. A&T battled back and proceeded to force a tie. Elon had match point in their favor multiple times, but failed to come through and the Aggies managed to come back and win by two in the first set 30-28.
Head coach Matt Troy said the first set came down to a couple of plays where Elon had to come through. He said the next step will be to capitalize in situations that could make or break a game.
“We just have to kind of make those plays at the end,” Troy said. “I think for us, that's the next hurdle and I know they have it in them.”
Like the first set, the second also came down to the wire but this time, it was Elon who came back. They trailed 22-19 and came back thanks to some attack errors by the Aggies. A kill by sophomore middle blocker Cathrine Rucker forced another tie 24-24. However, the Aggies quickly won the second set 26-24.
Carlsen said that Elon’s defense was the main reason why they came up short in both tiebreaking sets. She said the Aggies did a good job countering every offensive attack from Elon.
“We got a lot of really great digs the previous game, but those numbers weren’t the same today,” Carlsen said. “Even though we were hitting really well whenever they hit back at us, we weren’t able to convert in the same way that we did yesterday.”
N.C. A&T controlled most of the third set. The Aggies never trailed and Elon struggled to generate any significant momentum, losing 25-20.
Troy said he still saw some positives despite the loss. He said that he was happy the Phoenix played well against an Aggies’ team that had easily defeated them in their previous matchups.
“We’re playing close matchups against teams that have traditionally given us a pretty hard time,” Troy said. “We got to figure out how to get over the wall because that’s what we’ve met. We’re almost there and now we got to get over it.”
The team will travel to Buies Creek, North Carolina to play Campbell University at 6 p.m. Oct. 31.