Boxscore
ATLANTA, Ga.
? Senior setter Bethany Herndon (Richmond, Texas) posted a game-high tying 58
assists, with 19 digs, and senior middle blocker Leslee Ball (Sycamore, Ill.)
registered a game-high 27 kills to lead Chattanooga (1-1) to a 3-2 victory over
Georgia State (2-1) Saturday morning at the Georgia State Tournament in
Atlanta, Ga. The Lady Mocs won 29-31, 25-30, 30-16, 30-28, and 15-11 to collect
their first victory of the season.
Both teams got off to a fast start in the match's opener
with multiple lead changes before Georgia
State pulled out to a
20-17 advantage. UTC rallied for three points to tie the score at 20-20. The
score would be tied twice more, at 22-22 and 24-24, before the Lady Mocs went
on a 5-2 run to reach game point, 29-26. From there the Panthers then rallied
to score the final five points of the match for the 31-29 victory. Sophomore setter
Noelle Boyd registered 20 of her game-high tying 58 assists in the opening
frame.
In game two, Chattanooga, quickly built leads of 13-8 and
20-14 with the help of four consecutive kills from senior middle blocker Leslee
Ball (Sycamore, Ill.), three of which were assisted on by Herndon, before the
Panthers came alive. With the score at 21-16 UTC, Georgia State notched the
next six points to take the lead 22-21 and ripped off a 16-5 run to close out
the game, 30-25 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
After seeing Georgia State comeback from three-point and six
point deficits in the first two games to take a commanding lead, the Lady Mocs
took no chances in Game 3 and wasted little time in taking a 5-4 lead. From
that point, UTC reeled off 15 of the next 17 points to jump out to a 20-6 lead.
Herndon and Ball fueled this resurgence, posting nine assists and six kills in
the game, respectively, while junior libero Lara Newberry (Chattanooga,
Tenn.) added nine digs to help Chattanooga round out the
30-16 victory.
Following their impressive Game 3 victory, the Lady Mocs
came out firing in the fourth game as the two teams played to a 7-7 tie after
only a few minutes. At that point, the Lady Mocs mounted a 7-2 run to pull
ahead 14-9 before extending to a 25-20 advantage. The Panthers rallied to tie
the score at 25-25 behind back-to-back kills by senior outside hitter Amy Lusk and
maintained the tie at 27-27.
A service ace by senior Jamie Engel and a kill by senior
outside hitter Kelsey Amundson (Houston,
Texas) brought UTC to game point,
29-27. Following a point by Georgia
State, Ball put the game
away with a demonstrative kill for the 30-28 victory. That win tied the match
at 2-2 and sent the two teams to a decisive fifth game.
Following a quick 1-0 lead by the Panthers at the start of
the fifth game, Chattanooga took control,
jumping out to a 5-2 lead on two kills by Engel before Georgia State
rallied to pull within 7-6 midway through. Following two errors that made the
score 9-6, GSU scored three of the next four points, including back-to-back
kills by senior middle hitter Ana Paula Ferreira and Lusk, to make the score
10-9, UTC.
Chattanooga responded with
their own pair of kills from junior Laura Nethery (Hixson, Tenn.)
and Amundson sandwiched around a Panther service error to push the lead back to
13-9. Georgia State
would pull to within 13-11 before Engel and sophomore Ashley Yeager (Parker, Colo.) put the match
away with back-to-back kills for the decisive 15-11 victory.
The win is the first of the young season for the Lady Mocs
while Georgia State
entered the contest undefeated following straight sets victories over both East Tennessee
State University,
last year's Atlantic Sun regular season champion, and the University of Central
Florida.
In addition to Boyd's 58 assists and 12 digs, the Panthers
were led by Lusk with team-highs of 20 kills and 30 digs and Ferreira's 18
kills and 19 digs. Freshman outside hitter Emily Dewey posted 22 digs.
For the Lady Mocs, Ball added 16 digs to go along with her
27 kills and registered an amazing .520 hitting percentage (27-50) with two
service aces while Herndon contributed 19 digs in addition to her 58 assists.
Newberry led Chattanooga
on defense, posting a match-high 45 digs and Amundson chipped in with 11 kills
and 11 digs. Yeager finished the day with 12 digs.
The Lady Mocs wrap up play at the Georgia State Tournament
with a 4 p.m. match against Conference USA
member, the University
of Central Florida.
