Elon Blocks Volleyball in 3-1 Victory
9/18/2007 4:23:00 AM | Volleyball
ELON, N.C. --- The Elon volleyball team totaled 16 blocks, nine by Sarah Schermerhorn, to defeat Georgia Southern 3-1 (30-27, 26-30, 30-21, 30-26) Tuesday night at Alumni Gym.
The Phoenix improves to 6-7 and 1-0 in the Southern Conference while the Eagles fall to 3-11, 0-2.
“We’re definitely in a slump right now and it’s going to take hard work and discipline every day at practice and our upperclassmen stepping up and being leaders for us to get out of it,” said GSU head coach Nicole McCray.
Elon held Georgia Southern to a .043 hitting percentage in game one and scored the final three points to win 30-27.
Down 16-15 in game two, the Eagles responded with an 8-0 run off the serve of freshman Marissa Odom (Gainesville, Fla.) and capped it off with three straight kills.
Elon flexed their defensive muscle again in the third frame with six blocks and held GSU to a .028 attack percentage. The Phoenix closed out the match with a 5-1 run to break a 25-25 tie.
“They serve tough and we became very readable and predictable,” added McCray. “Our passing wasn’t there so it was obvious who we were setting which enabled them to block balls.”
Freshman Michelle Uzoh (San Antonio, Texas) tallied 15 kills, a .523 hitting percentage and seven total blocks. She was joined in double-figure kills by junior Bianca Julio (Curitiba, Brazil) who had a match-high-tying 16. Odom led all players with 14 digs and junior Mae Chabra (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) had 39 assists.
Elon’s Britany Westphal and Emily Lucci led the offense with 16 and 14 kills, respectively, while Natalie Moore dished out 45 assists. Schermerhorn totaled nine blocks and Lucci added seven, including two solo.
The Eagles return to the court this weekend with matches at Furman Friday night at 7 p.m. and Wofford Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.
