ELON, N.C. – Western Carolina volleyball began the Phoenix Volley for Unity with a 3-0 setback to the hosts Elon on Friday night at Schar Center in Elon, N.C. Elon won by the scores of 25-19, 25-20, and 25-23.
Both the Catamounts and Phoenix's records now sit at 2-6 following Friday's match.
Bailey Hartsough tallied a match-high 11 kills to pace the Catamounts on the offensive end as Ali Morris and Ali Schreiber each finished with nine kills. Freshman Katie Boney led the way for WCU with 16 assists and also added eight digs on the defensive end. Sarah Janourova added 14 assists in the match. Hartsough led the way with nine digs as four different players had at least eight digs on Friday. Logan Carr finished with a team-high four blocks.
Clara LaRue led the way for Elon with nine kills as Cameron Lanier added seven kills for the Phoenix. Jessica Parker totaled a match-high 21 helpers while also adding 11 digs for the Phoenix on the defensive end. Jordan Gower had a match-high 15 digs. Caroline Berlekamp tallied six blocks for Elon on Friday as she also added five kills to her stat line.
The start of set one featured nine ties before a 6-1 spurt allowed the Phoenix to take a 20-15 lead late in the set. The Phoenix quickly pushed it to set point with four of the next six points before the Catamounts picked up a pair of late kills however the hosts were able to claim set one 25-19.
The second set started similar to set one with nine ties in the early going before Elon scored four of five points in a stretch to take a 13-11 lead and force a WCU timeout. The Catamounts scored four of the next five points to gain a one-point lead before the two teams went back-and-forth leading to 18-18 late in the set. The Phoenix seized control of the set down the stretch with seven of the final nine points to take the set 25-20 and lead the match 2-0.
The Catamounts started quickly in the third set with three of the first four points before Elon used an 10-3 run to grab the early advantage and force a WCU timeout. The Phoenix and Catamounts traded runs over the next several points before a 5-2 burst pushed the hosts ahead 19-12 late in the third set. Western Carolina answered with the next three points to force an Elon timeout. After Elon scored the first two out of the timeout, WCU scored five of the next six to cut the deficit to two, 22-20 and force Elon to call a second timeout. The Catamounts fought off a pair of set points before the hosts were able to claim set three and Friday's match by the score of 25-23 in the third set.
Western Carolina battles N.C. Central on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m with the match being shown on FloSports (paid subscription required) along with live stats being provided through CatamountSports.com.
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