Boxscore

CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Senior middle blocker Leslee Ball (Sycamore, Ill.) drilled a career-high 31 kills and freshman setter Bailee Chastain (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) tied her career-high with 63 assists as Chattanooga (14-11, 9-3) notched a 3-1 victory over The Citadel (5-23, 0-12) in a Southern Conference volleyball match Tuesday afternoon at McAlister Fieldhouse. The Lady Mocs defeated the Bulldogs 25-30, 30-18, 30-26 and 30-28.

Game 1 was a tightly contested affair as the two teams battled to 15 ties before the Bulldogs put together a 3-0 run to take a 21-18 lead. Chattanooga quickly rallied to tie the game again, this time at 21-21, with their own 3-0 run before The Citadel mounted a 6-1 run to take a commanding 27-22 advantage before closing out the game with a 30-25 victory and 1-0 match lead.

The Lady Mocs rallied back in the second game, taking a 6-0 lead behind four kills from Ball, including three consecutively, before the Bulldogs closed to within 11-8. A 14-5 run for Chattanooga, keyed by four kills from Ball, extended the lead to 25-13 before UTC wrapped up the game, 30-18, to tie the match at 1-1.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 7-6 lead in Game 3 before going on a 10-3 run, including six straight points, to push their lead to 17-9. The Lady Mocs then proceeded to score four of the next five points to put the score at 18-13. With the score at 20-14, Chattanooga tied the score, 21-21, on a 7-1 run before trading points over the next several plays to make the score 25-24, Bulldogs. From there, the Lady Mocs took control, scoring the final six points, including the last three by service ace by senior outside hitter Jamie Engel (Troy, Ill.), to win the game 30-26 and take a 2-1 match lead.

Chattanooga opened Game 4 by taking a commanding 10-3 lead before extending that margin to 16-9. The Citadel then mounted an 11-6 run to rally to within 22-20. A 3-1 spurt by UTC made the score 25-22 but the Bulldogs would not go quietly, eventually tying the score at 25-25. The Lady Mocs regained the lead, 27-25, on back-to-back kills by junior outside hitter Ashley Yeager (Parker, Colo.) and didn't look back as three more kills sealed the deal for the 30-28 victory.

Freshman middle blocker Jessica Maas led the offensive attack for The Citadel with 18 kills and added 14 digs while junior setter Emily Hill sparked the offense with 51 assists to go along with 16 digs. Junior outside hitter Rachel Sanders posted a solid all-around performance with 16 kills and a match-high 22 digs, as did freshman middle blocker Amanda Beal who finished with nine kills and 14 digs. Freshman outside hitter Tatum Jestila added 19 digs while junior libero Ashley Winter contributed 13 digs.

In addition to her career-high 31 kills, Ball also recorded a .475 hitting percentage, five blocks and five digs for Chattanooga while Engel had a strong all-around match, recording 17 kills and a team-high tying 21 digs. Junior libero Lara Newberry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) equaled that mark with 21 digs and freshman outside hitter Aurore Kullak (Beloeil, Belgium) and senior outside hitter Kelsey Amundson (Houston, Texas) also contributed defensively with 17 and 16 digs, respectively. Yeager added 12 kills on the day while senior middle blocker Sarah Bass (Baton Rouge, La.) finished with 11.

The Lady Mocs will be back in action on Saturday, October 27 when they return home to face Georgia Southern at Maclellan Gym. First serve is set for 7 p.m.

Notes

With 31 kills, Ball was five kills away from tying the Lady Mocs single match record of 36 set by Mary Simpson on November 11, 1988 against Western Carolina.