Boxscore
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? Senior middle blocker Leslee Ball (Sycamore, Ill.) and senior middle blocker Sarah Bass (Baton Rouge, La.) combined for 30 kills and freshman setter Bailee Chastain (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) dished out a match-high 49 assists to lead Chattanooga (13-8, 8-1) to a 3-1 victory over Elon (13-11, 7-3) Sunday afternoon at Maclellan Gym in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Lady Mocs defeated the Phoenix 30-23, 26-30, 30-25 and 30-28 to maintain their hold on first place in the Southern Conference.
Playing the majority of the match without senior setter Bethany Herndon (Richmond, Texas), who left the match with an unspecified injury after only several plays, Chattanooga relied on a team effort to win its fourth straight match.
Trailing 9-7 in the early going, Chattanooga took control of Game 1 with a 10-2 run to go up 17-11. Elon eventually battled back to within 24-20, but that was as close as they would get as UTC wrapped the game 30-23 for a 1-0 match lead.
The Phoenix bounced back in Game 2 after trailing 7-3 as they outscored the Lady Mocs 12-3 to take a 15-10 lead. They soon extended that to 22-16 before weathering several Chattanooga rallies that eventually closed the gap to 27-25. Two kills by junior outside hitter Jessica Barrow then keyed the 3-1 run that capped off the game, 30-26.
With the match tied 1-1, the Lady Mocs and the Phoenix battled in Game 3 for the match lead. Following an impressive 8-1 UTC run to begin the frame, Elon clawed back to within 10-5 before posting seven of the next eight points, including six in a row, to take a 12-11 advantage. The lead would change hands twice and there would be four ties before Elon managed an 18-17 lead.
At that point, the Lady Mocs took control of the pivotal game, posting eight of the next nine points to pull out to a 25-19 advantage. It was a run that the Phoenix would not recover from as UTC went on to close out the game, 30-25, and take a 2-1 match lead.
Game 4 was a hotly contested affair with Elon battling out to a 7-6 lead early on before mounting a 5-0 run to extend to a 12-6 advantage. A 13-5 run by the Lady Mocs, propelled them into the lead, 19-17 before the Phoenix knotted the score at 19-19. Following a point by UTC to make the score 20-19, Elon posted four straight points to retake the lead 23-20.
Facing the possibility of a fifth and final game, the Lady Mocs rallied back to within 24-22 and stayed within two points before scoring three straight with Elon leading 27-25 to go ahead 28-27. Following an error that tied the score at 28-28, Chattanooga put the game away with back-to-back points for the 30-28 victory and 3-1 match win.
Barrow and senior middle back Emily Lucci led the offensive attack for the Phoenix as they posted 16 and 13 kills, respectively, while senior setter Natalie Moore set up the offense with 44 assists. Defensively, junior libero Kelley Blakewood led the way as she posted 29 digs and was joined by Lucci with 14 digs and junior defensive specialist Shelley MacBean and freshman defensive specialist Lizzie West with 12 and 10 digs respectively. Freshman middle blocker Sara Schermerhorn rounded out the offensive attack with 11 kills.
For Chattanooga, Ball and Bass led the way with 15 kills apiece while Chastain finished with 49 assists and 16 digs in the first significant action of her college career. Junior libero Lara Newberry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) finished with a match-high 32 digs and is currently seven digs away from setting the Lady Mocs all-time digs mark in only 2 ? seasons.
Senior outside hitter Jamie Engel (Troy, Ill.) added a strong performance with 23 digs, 10 kills and three service aces while freshman outside hitter Aurore Kullak (Beloeil, Belgium) and senior outside hitter Kelsey Amundson (Houston, Texas) posted 18 and 14 digs respectively. Senior middle blocker Julianna Martinez (Austin, Texas) added 10 kills on the day.
The Lady Mocs return to action Tuesday with a non-conference contest when they host the Lipscomb Lady Bison at 7 p.m. at Maclellan Gym.
Notes
Newberry is now seven digs away from breaking the school mark of 2,058 set by Kylie Hunter from 1990-93 with 2,052 for her career.
