ELON, NC Juliena Gigon's career-high 20 kills led Elon to a 3-1 (30-28, 30-32, 30-25, 30-18) win over Southern Conference foe UNC Greensboro on Tuesday night at Alumni Gym.
UNCG (4-21, 2-12 SoCon) was led offensively by junior Hilary Overby with 11 kills while sophomore Lauren Keiser and freshman Kaitlyn Nortz had nine and eight kills respectively. Sophomore Alysia Rosvold paced the defense with 11 digs and Overby came up with nine digs. Senior Adrian Hicks recorded 37 assists for the Spartans.
Gigon tallied 20 kills and only two errors on 34 attempts, recording a .529 hitting percentage for the night. Emily Lucci notched 16 kills and 10 digs. Brooke Pickard posted a career-best 21 digs. Britany Westphal tallied 12 kills while Lindsay Reinhardt posted a career-high five service aces. Natalie Moore took care of the setting duties for Elon with 55 assists along with nine digs and three service aces.
Game one saw 15 ties and seven lead changes with neither team leading by more than four points. A service ace by Elon's Ashley Ruckert knotted the game 26-26 and the Phoenix would go up by one, 27-26, on a Lucci kill. The Spartans tied the game at 27-27 before Elon earned two points on a UNCG service error and a kill by Gigon to go up 29-27. A kill by Hicks got the Spartans within one at 29-28, but Elon closed the game on a kill from Gigon, 30-28.
In game two, the Spartans led by six at 24-18 before Elon went on an 8-2 run to tie the score 26-26 behind the serves of Lucci and Reinhardt. The Spartans took a 28-26 advantage on a kill from Overby and an Elon attack error. However, Elon got back-to-back kills from Gigon and Emily Downing to tie the game 28-28. The game remained tied 30-30, before the Spartans ended the game 32-30 on a kill from Lori Collins and an Elon attack error.
Elon (7-19, 5-9 SoCon) jumped to an early lead in game three and never looked back. Up by 11 at 28-17, the Spartans rattled off six straight points behind the serve of Liz Benzschawel to get within five at 28-23, but Elon quickly put two more points on the board to stop the Spartan threat and end the game 30-25.
In game four, Elon again took an early advantage and maintained the lead for the duration of the game. Ahead 27-18, Elon closed the game on back-to-back service aces by Reinhardt and a kill from Lucci.
UNCG visits Furman on Saturday for a SoCon match beginning at 2 pm in Greenville, SC. Next up for Elon is a Friday match with Furman at 7 pm in Greenville.
AGATE
Elon def. UNC Greensboro 3-1 (30-28, 30-32, 30-25, 30-18)
UNC Greensboro (4-21, 2-12 SoCon) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Hilary Overby 11-1-2; Lauren Keiser 9-0-2; Kaitlyn Nortz 8-1-2; Lauren Richards 7-0-2; Lori Collins 5-0-0; Adrian Hicks 4-1-1; Ashley Smith 1-0-0; Alysia Rosvold 0-2-0; Liz Benzschawel 0-2-0; Totals 45-7-5.0. (Assists) - Adrian Hicks 37. (Dig leaders) - Alysia Rosvold 11; Hilary Overby 9.
Elon (7-19, 5-9 SoCon) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Juliena Gigon 20-1-5; Emily Lucci 16-2-3; Britany Westphal 12-0-3; Emily Downing 4-0-3; Jessica Barrow 4-0-1; Ashley Ruckert 4-1-1; Natalie Moore 2-3-1; Lindsay Reinhardt 1-5-0; Brooke Pickard 0-2-0; Totals 63-14-10.0. (Assists) - Natalie Moore 55. (Dig leaders) - Brooke Pickard 21; Emily Lucci 10;
Emily Downing 9; Natalie Moore 9.
.- UNCG -
