ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst University women's volleyball team took down Lakeland, 3-1, Friday evening in their home opener at R.A. Faganel Hall.

Elmhurst (4-4) dominated the evening, tallying 59 kills on 52 assists, also notching nine service aces and hitting .439 as a team. Lakeland (1-10) was quite the opposite, hitting .071 in the match.

The Bluejays had strong individual performances from Jada Wiley and Kali Phillips in the home opener, with Wiley tallying a double-double of 17 kills and 12 digs to lead the team, while Phillips notched 12 kills for Elmhurst. Alexa Bueser assisted on 29 Bluejay kills on the evening, while Gianna Ptaszek had four service aces.

The Jays held strong in set one, responding to each of Lakelands runs with a larger one of their own and taking the opener, 25-17. In set two, both teams traded points with Lakeland holding an 8-9 advantage nearly halfway through the set. From there, Elmhurst would win 17 of the next 21 points on the back of Wiley and strong defense and serving to take set two, 25-13.

In the third, Lakeland flipped the script, opening with an 8-2 run before a burst of four points brought the Jays back within two. However, attack and service errors plagued Elmhurst, dropping set three 22-25. It was again a back-and-forth start to set four, but a service run including a pair of aces from Kellyn Kennedy put Elmhurst up 17-11. With the score standing at 20-15, Elmhurst rallied off five-straight points, capped off by a kill from Savannah Davis and sealing the 3-1 win for the first time this season at home.

UP NEXT

The Bluejays head to Lisle, Ill. tomorrow afternoon for the Benedictine Tri-Match, playing Lake Forest at 12:00 pm and the host Eagles at 2:00 pm.

FOLLOW THE BLUEJAYS

Be sure to keep up with all Elmhurst University Athletics content by following the Bluejays on Twitter (@elmhurstbluejay), Facebook (Elmhurst University Athletics) and Instagram (@elmhurstbluejays), and tune in to elmhurstbluejays.com for the latest news and information.............