Boxscore
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ?
Senior middle blockers Julianna Martinez (Austin, Texas) and Leslee Ball
(Sycamore, Ill.) combined for 23 kills and seven blocks and setter Bethany
Herndon (Richmond, Texas) dished out a match-high 42 assists to lead
Chattanooga (5-6, 1-0) to a 3-0 victory over Western Carolina (5-11, 0-1) Tuesday
evening at Maclellan Gym in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Lady Mocs open the Southern
Conference season with a win with scores of 30-15, 30-20 and 30-13. It is Chattanooga's third
straight victory and second consecutive sweep.
The Lady Mocs wasted little time in asserting control of the match
early on as they jumped out to a 10-7 lead. A 15-4 run, fueled in part by four
kills from Ball, helped Chattanooga extend to a commanding 25-11 advantage
before wrapping up the game 30-15 for a 1-0 match lead.
In Game 2, it was more of the same as UTC quickly opened with a 3-0
lead before the Catamounts rallied back to within 8-6. Ball then added three
more kills as part of a dominating 12-1 run that put the Lady Mocs squarely
back in control of the game with a 20-7 advantage. It was a deficit that Western Carolina would not recover from, despite rallying
to within ten points before falling 30-20.
The Catamounts fought back from down 8-3 at the start of Game 3 to
rally to within 12-10 before UTC put the match away. Chattanooga posted another dominating run as
they outscored WCU 18-3 over the remainder of the game to wrap up the match
with a 30-13 victory. Martinez and senior
outside hitter Jamie Engel (Troy,
Ill.) each added three kills as
the Lady Mocs swept their conference opener, 3-0.
Sophomore setter Katie Hennessey led Western
Carolina with 15 assists and added 10 digs while freshman outside
hitter Jelena Jakovjevic finished with a team-high six kills. Sophomore libero
Liz Rondone finished the match with a team-high 15 digs.
For the Lady Mocs, Ball led the way with 13 kills and four blocks
and Martinez
added 10 kills and three blocks. Currently #1 in the nation in digs, Chattanooga registered 77 digs on the evening and was led
by the top player nationally in that category, junior libero Lara Newberry (Chattanooga, Tenn.)
with a match-high 21 digs. She was joined by senior outside hitter Kelsey
Amundson (Houston, Texas) with 14 digs, freshman outside hitter Aurore Kullak
(Beloeil, Belgium) with 12 and junior setter Michaela Huff (Dallas, Texas) with
10 digs. Amundson also added nine kills on the evening.
Leslee Ball's 13 kills on the evening move her into sole possession
of sixth all-time on the Lady Mocs kills list with 1,085. She is currently 48
kills away from tying from fifth all-time.
The Lady Mocs will be back in action when they host the Appalachian
State Mountaineers on Saturday, September 22 at 2 p.m.
