Boxscore
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? With her name already speckled all over the Lady Mocs record books, junior libero Lara Newberry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) added her most prestigious achievement on Tuesday night as she registered 35 digs to break the school record of 2,058 set by Kylie Hunter from 1990-93. With nine digs in Game 1, including the last three on the same play, the Chattanooga native moved into the top spot all-time for the Lady Mocs.
In the match, junior outside hitter Sarah Snider notched 37 kills and freshman setter Stefine Pease posted a match-high 66 assists to lead Lipscomb (13-9, 5-2 A-Sun) to a 3-2 victory over Chattanooga (13-9, 8-1) in a non-conference match Tuesday evening at Maclellan Gym in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Lady Bisons defeated UTC 30-28, 23-30, 30-22, 26-30 and 15-11 for their seventh straight victory.
In Game 1, the two teams battled out to a 12-12 tie before Lipscomb took the lead, 19-13 on a 7-1 run and then extended their lead to 26-18. Chattanooga then mounted an 8-1 run to pull to within 27-26 before back-to-back points by the Lady Bisons brought the frame to game point, 29-26. UTC rallied for the next two points before falling 30-28.
It was another tightly contested battle in Game 2 as the teams deadlocked five times before settling at 18-18. At that point, the Lady Mocs put together a 6-0 run to go ahead 24-18 before closing out the match on an overall run of 12-5 to tie the match at 1-1.
Chattanooga took an early 8-4 lead in Game 3 before seeing the Lady Bisons pull to within 12-10. From there Lipscomb took control of the game, putting together an 11-2 run to take a 21-14 lead and eventually went on to close out the game 30-22.
The fourth game was once again a hotly contested affair as neither team held more than a three-point lead until the Lady Mocs extended their lead to 19-15. Lipscomb then proceeded to post a 7-3 run to tie the game at 22-22. An 8-4 run, keyed by back-to-back kills by senior middle blocker Leslee Ball (Sycamore, Ill.) gave Chattanooga the game, 30-26, and forced a decisive fifth game.
In that fifth and final game, the Lady Bisons quickly broke a 3-3 tie and took a 9-6 lead. A 3-1 run pushed the lead to a daunting 12-7 advantage before senior outside hitter Jamie Engel (Troy, Ill.) pounded back-to-back-to-back kills to draw Chattanooga to within 12-10. Lipscomb would have none of it as they scored three of the final four points to take the game, and the match, with a 15-11 victory.
For the Lady Bison's, Snider added 16 digs to go along with her match-high 37 kills while senior libero Ann Mullins led the defense with a match-high 39 digs. She was joined on defense by junior outside hitter Jessica Turner with 26 digs and freshman libero Brittany Simmons with 16 digs and three aces. Pease added nine digs to go along with her match-high 66 assists.
Chattanooga was led by freshman setter Bailee Chastain's (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) career-high 63 assists, 12 digs, six blocks and five kills. Ball finished with 21 kills, 12 digs, a .341 hitting percentage and a career-high eight blocks while senior middle blocker Sarah Bass (Baton Rouge, La.) added 16 kills with a .368 hitting percentage. Defensively, junior libero Lara Newberry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) led the way with 35 digs to break UTC's all-time digs record. She now has 2,087 for her career.
Engel also contributed significantly on defense, notching 29 digs while senior outside hitter Kelsey Amundson (Houston, Texas) finished with 25. Freshman outside hitter Aurore Kullak (Beloeil, Belgium) chipped in with 19 digs on the night.
As a team, the Lady Mocs finished with a season-high tying 136 digs.
The Lady Mocs return to action this weekend when they travel to Appalachian State on Saturday for a 1 p.m. match at the Holmes Center before heading on to Davidson for a 2 p.m. match on Sunday.
Notes
Newberry now has 630 digs on the season and 2,087 for her career, making her Chattanooga's all-time digs leader ... more in-depth coverage of Newberry becoming the Lady Mocs all-time digs leader will be available on www.GoMocs.com.
