Sept. 30, 2011

Final Stats

ELON, N.C. - The Elon Phoenix held Western Carolina offensively to just hit .057 as Elon picked up its first SoCon win of the season, winning 14-25, 23-25, 25-27. The Catamounts fall to 6-12 (1-2 SoCon) while the Phoenix improve to 12-6 (1-2 SoCon).

The Catamounts were held to their worst offensive performance with just 21 total kills, the second lowest total this season. Despite the poor offensive performance, senior Brittany Lysik picked up her seventh double-double, dishing out 18 assists and tallying 12 digs. Freshmen Jordan Timmermann and Caitlin Piechota both went over five kills with seven and six, respectively. Timmermann and sophomore libero Morgan Cochran both added 15 digs apiece.

The first set was a rough one for the Catamounts as the Purple and Gold put up its fewest points since scoring 14 in a loss against Jacksonville State in early September.

WCU seemed to get stronger as the match went on, though, as the second set went back and forth between the two SoCon North rivals. Western Carolina held a 22-20 lead , but couldn't hold on as two errors evened the match up at 22. Two consecutive kills by the Phoenix gave Elon set point. WCU would get another point off of a Piechota kill, but Elon would take set two, 25-23.

In the third set, WCU jumped out to a 5-1 lead before Elon was forced to take an early timeout. WCU would extend its lead to 9-5 before Elon would begin to climb back into the set. The two teams were even throughout the rest of the set with Elon eventually jumping ahead to match point at 25-24. A Phoenix setting error knotted the score at 25, but it would be the last points of the match for the Catamounts with Elon picking up the final two points.

The third set against Elon was the fourth time this season a third set has required extra points to determine a winner. WCU is 1-4 in those sets.

Western Carolina will look to rebound from the loss to Elon as the Catamounts will continue its road swing with another SoCon North battle against UNCG. UNCG was the one conference win for the Catamounts a season ago. The match will begin at 5:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon, with live stats available through CatamountSports.com.