Oct. 7, 2005

Box Score

ELON, North Carolina - Whitney Purser recorded a match-high 22 kills along with 10 digs to lead the Lady Paladins of Furman to a 3-0 win over the Elon Phoenix in a Southern Conference match on Friday night in Alumni Gym. Furman took the games by scores of 30-27, 31-29, 30-27 to snap a three-match losing streak.

The night was a battle from the beginning as game one witnessed 13 ties and four lead changes with neither team ever leading by more than three. The last tie came at 26-26 when Purser registered a kill to knot the score. The Lady Paladins then recorded three points behind the serve of Molly Rybak to go ahead 29-26 before a kill by Britany Westphal gave the Phoenix a point and the serve at 29-27. But a service error by Elon ended the game 30-27 in favor of Furman.

Elon (3-13, 1-4) jumped out to an early lead in game two and led by as much as six for most of the contest before Furman closed the gap. Down by six,24-18, the Lady Paladins went on a 7-0 run, behind four kills from Purser,to take a 25-24 advantage. Elon used Furman errors and a block by Ashley Rucker and Emily Lucci to take the lead back at 27-25 but Furman tied the game 27-27 on a Purser kill and an Elon error. Elon took the 29-27 advantage before back-to-back kills from Purser tied it up at 29-29 and the Lady Paladins closed the game 31-29.

Game three saw 13 ties and six lead changes. Tied at 25-25, Furman went on a 4-0 run capped by a kill from Chibuzo Aguocha to go ahead 29-25. Elon fought back to within two at 29-27 on a kill from Lucci and a Lady Paladin error before Aguocha finished the game at 30-27 with a kill.

Lucci led Elon¹s offense with 16 kills and only five errors on 24 attempts for a .324 hitting percentage while Juliena Gigon added 10 kills for the Phoenix. Emily Downing led the defense with 13 digs and Brooke Pickard posted 10 digs while Kate Hart tallied 24 assists and Natalie Moore notched 15.

Purser hit .326 on the night with only eight errors on 43 attempts with 22 kills. Kim Tonkin led the Furman defense with 12 digs and Ally Hock added 10 while Rybak posted 36 assists.

Furman (6-10, 2-4) returns to action on Saturday at 2 p.m. at UNC Greensboro and Elon takes the court again on Saturday at 7 p.m. against Wofford.