Elon volleyball played the College of Charleston Sept. 20, losing 0-3 after three close sets at Schar Center.
The Phoenix started off the first set strong, leading 4-2 before the College of Charleston built up a big lead. Senior Cameron Lanier halted the Charleston run with a kill that fired up the Elon bench and brought the score to 7-9.
As the set progressed, freshman Lindsey Murphy couldn’t be stopped. Murphy had multiple huge digs, including one to keep a long rally alive. Junior Catherine Rucker finished that rally with a massive block to pull the Phoenix back to 11-12.
Elon continued to fight. A few points later, Cameron Lanier fired a serve into the Charleston side of the court, bringing the Phoenix back to level at 13-13.
The Phoenix and Cougars traded points before a crucial block from senior Caroline Berlekamp to give the Phoenix the lead at 16-15.
The Cougars found their footing and began to run away with the set at 20-24 before Rucker snuck a wicked kill to bring the deficit down to three.
Elon’s late efforts went for nought as Lanier served the ball into the net to hand set one to the Cougars, 25-21.
The second set started off with a long rally that ended with Elon conceding the point to Charleston. The two teams rallied back and forth and continued to tie the set. Elon had a big moment when Lanier saved the Phoenix from losing a point and went on to complete a kill, bringing the score to 13-14.
Junior Anna Sewell had some big plays and teamed up with Berlekamp to perform a massive block against Charleston, rounding the score out to 19-17. This was part of Elon’s five-point scoring run, which forced Charleston to call a timeout and regroup.
After that, the Cougars were able to go on a four-point scoring run and eventually took the set 21-25. Elon was left in a 0-2 deficit, needing to rally back and win the third set.
Charleston took the first point and continued on with a five-point scoring run, leaving the Phoenix at a 0-5 score. In hopes of ending their hot streak, Elon called a timeout, and head coach Matt Troy tried to get his team fired up.
“We're just trying to stop the momentum, and just kind of reset, get the energy back,” Troy said. “We needed to draw up a different play, just to try to get there. I think they were getting comfortable in what they were seeing on our side.”
The Phoenix won their first point of the set with Berlekamp firing one into the Charleston court. Elon continued, winning three more points, capped off by a kill from Lanier to make the score 4-6.
As the set progressed, the two teams went point for point, with many big plays. Sophomore Allie Schultz delivered one of those plays with a kill to even the game at 11-11.
The two teams then rallied back and forth until the Cougars took a 4-0 scoring run over the Phoenix and forced Elon to take a timeout to try to eliminate Charleston's momentum. Charleston was up 19-20, and Schultz completed a kill to tie the game 20-20.
Lanier’s attempted kill went out to make the score 22-24. She then went on to grab back-to-back kills to keep the game alive and bring the score to 24-24.
“You know, we've been working really well together,” Lanier said. “I just felt really good. I think it was a really important point for us because we haven't been that close to them in score yet.”
Elon’s efforts in the third set were not enough as the Cougars won the next two points with a kill from Charleston sophomore Makena Parthen, and an offensive error from Elon sophomore Dani Wallace wrapped up the game for the College of Charleston.
“The way we played at the end of that third set, that's how we need to play all the time in those last five points,” Troy said. “If we can get that mentality down, I'm excited to see where we can continue the trend.”
Elon next plays at Hampton University at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24.
Peyton Spencer and Addison Hinson assisted with the reporting of this story.