Elon women’s volleyball took on Stony Brook University in the first matchup of a two-game home-stint on Friday. The Phoenix was seeking their first three-game win streak of the season.
As the first set went underway, Stony Brook delivered the first blow to the Phoenix, capturing an early 1-point lead. Elon tried to fend off the attack, but a miscommunication led to a second straight point for the Seawolves.
Phoenix went down 3-8 before the team rallied together and scored three straight points.
The Seawolves ended the Phoenix run after a long ball by junior outside hitter Anna Sewell. Head coach Matt Troy called a timeout to regroup the Phoenix.
After the timeout, the Phoenix fought back to tie the set, 12-12. A spike by senior outside hitter Cameron Lanier forced the Seawolves to call a timeout to stop Elon’s momentum.
But junior libero Casey Brower kept fueling the Phoenix. Her ace earned Elon a 17-13 lead, stunning the Seawolves.
Lanier and junior middle blocker Catherine Rucker blocked the Seawolves' offense left and right, giving Stony Brook no chance of coming back.
Elon captured the set 25-17, thanks to a pass from sophomore outside hitter Allie Schultz to Sewell for the kill.
As the second set began, the Phoenix had another slow start. The Seawolves came out howling to take an early 0-4 lead.
After being down early, Schultz was able to get Elon on the board with a kill, cutting the lead to six. The team had a good two-point streak going until a key miscommunication call led to another timeout by Troy.
As the set continued, the Phoenix were battling in a tight matchup. Sewell had a phenomenal kill to cut the lead back down to 7-14.
Despite the effort, the Seawolves took an even bigger lead and the Phoenix weren’t able to find any momentum in the set. Stony Brook’s Ella Sanders has the second-highest kill percentage in the CAA behind Lanier. In the second set, she was unstoppable.
Coach Troy changed his defense to focus on her, but he knew she was going to be able to find ways to get her points.
“We prepared for her and we set up our defense to try to make sure that we could get some stops,” Troy said. “We knew she was going to be our primary focus, and that she was going to be able to get her points”.
In the closing moments of the second half, the Phoenix tried to go on a run to stop the Seawolves, but it didn’t work out as they were able to claim the last point. The game was tied 1-1, heading into the third set.
Troy gave his team some wisdom heading into the third set to get the team back on track.
“For the third set we just needed to come out, reset, and go from there and play well,” Troy said.
In the third, Elon came out strong, immediately taking a point off of Sewell’s tip over the net. Rucker racked up another kill, rounding out the Phoenix lead at 3-2.
Stony Brook was left scrambling as Elon got fired up, with Rucker sending out a strong service ace to bring the score to 10-6. It was part of a series of fiery scoring runs that forced the Seawolves into a timeout to regroup and attempt a comeback.
The Phoenix played a suffocating set, reaching an 8-1 scoring run off of back-to-back kills by senior middle blocker Caroline Berlekamp that gave Elon a 15-7 lead.
With the Seawolves backed into a corner and scrambling to defend, sophomore outside hitter Allie Schultz delivered two commanding kills. Sewell’s kill sent Stony Brook to their knees in an unsuccessful attempt at a dig, extending the lead to 21-7.
The Phoenix took set three with a dominant 15-point lead, ending the set with a score of 25-10. Across the board, the team had a fantastic performance, with 39 kills. Troy was impressed with the way his team was able to bounce back and fall into a rhythm that left the Seawolves no room to fight back.
Berlekamp said the team knew that this third set was important, and that they needed to lock in.
“After the second set, we had a big talk about responding back to the pressure Stony Brook was putting on us, and we knew from the get go”, Berlekamp said. “We had to bring our fire and it was really big and we just started flowing”.
Set four was a similar story for Elon — once they were fired up, they didn’t back down. Berlekamp notched another kill to bring the Phoenix up early, and Schultz delivered a heated strike to take the score to 4-2.
Stony Brook was rattled, and sent a serve out wide that Elon capitalized on to go on another four-point scoring run, forcing another Seawolves timeout.
That timeout wouldn’t ice the Phoenix. Lanier put up another point for Elon off of an assist from sophomore setter April Rice, giving the team an 11-5 lead. The Seawolves were burned, and the Phoenix received another point off of an attack error.
Elon wouldn’t let their fire be doused, and a tip by Schultz elevated the lead to 17-9.
A wicked kill from Lanier brought the score to 24-13, and the Phoenix had the match point. Rice and Berlekamp teamed up for a monster block, and Elon took the fourth set 25-13.
The game was a masterclass of rhythm and resiliency, with the Phoenix coming out hot after dropping the second set. Lanier marked her 800th career kill in the electric home win.
Berlekamp believes that this win is important to help get them back into the tournament.
“This is a great opportunity for us to get into the tournament, and tonight being a huge important win that we needed to start our journey back into the tournament,” Berlekamp said. “Every aspect of our game was good and I am incredibly proud of everyone.”
Coach Troy believes that there are some things for them to clean up before the next game to make sure they are prepared.
“We struggled a little bit in our surfing early on, " Troy said. “I was telling them in the third and fourth set, you know to get settled in there. I would like to see us come out with that a little bit early, because I think we would put more pressure on them”.
Elon next plays 2 p.m., Oct. 3. at Schar Center, continuing the home stint against Stony Brook.