Boxscore
BOONE, N.C. ? Senior outside hitter Brittany Zahn and senior right side hitter Dianna Thomas combined for 34 kills and senior setter Lorelle Rau posted a match-high 49 assists to lead Appalachian State (12-12, 8-3) to a 3-0 victory over Chattanooga (13-10, 8-2) Saturday evening in a Southern Conference volleyball match in Boone, N.C. The Mountaineers defeated Chattanooga 30-21, 30-25 and 30-26.
In Game 1, Chattanooga appeared to be in control, opening with leads of 13-10 and 19-16 behind the hitting of senior middle blocker Leslee Ball (Sycamore, Ill.) and senior middle blocker Sarah Bass (Baton Rouge, La.). Then the Mountaineers roared to life, putting together a dominating 14-2 run that included nine consecutive points with the score tied at 20-20, to close out the game with a 30-21 victory.
Up 1-0 in the match, ASU picked up at the start of Game 2 where they left off in the first game, jumping out to leads of 6-2 and 9-4 before the Lady Mocs rallied to within 12-9. The Mountaineers then extended their lead to 20-12 off of an 8-3 run before staving off a late Chattanooga rally to close out the game 30-25 and take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
The two teams battled through three lead changes and five ties early in Game 3 before the Lady Mocs pulled ahead 9-5 with a 4-0 run. Appalachian State then rallied to within 16-15 before tying the game at 17-17. It was the first of seven deadlocks between the two teams, including a final one at 26-26.
The Mountaineers then notched back-to-back points to go ahead 28-26, prompting a Chattanooga timeout. Following the one minute respite, ASU's Brittany Zahn connected on back-to-back kills to quell any hopes of a five set comeback to lock up a 30-26 Game 3 win and a 3-0 match victory.
For Appalachian State, Zahn led the Mountaineer attack with a match-high 20 kills and Thomas finished with 14 while junior middle blocker Carla Durham added 11 kills on the night. Defensively, sophomore defensive specialist Heather Kale posted a match-high 28 digs and was joined by sophomore libero Cassie Engelgau with 10 digs.
Freshman setter Bailee Chastain (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) setup the Chattanooga offense with 29 assists and added 11 digs while Ball finished with a team-high 14 kills and a .423 hitting percentage. Junior libero Lara Newberry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) led the Lady Mocs with 26 digs and senior outside hitter Jamie Engel (Troy, Ill.) added nine kills and nine digs. Freshman outside hitter Aurore Kullak (Beloeil, Belgium) finished the night with 12 digs.
The Lady Mocs will be back in action when they conclude their weekend action at Davidson tomorrow afternoon. First serve is set for 2 p.m.
Notes
The loss snaps Chattanooga's four match winning streak in the Southern Conference.
