CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ? In a contest between two evenly matched teams, the Chattanooga volleyball team (12-12, 7-3 Southern) came away with a 3-1 victory over UNC Greensboro (15-8, 7-3 Southern) Saturday at Maclellan Gym.
The Lady Mocs took the match 27-25, 24-26, 25-23, and 25-23 as UTC now sits in second place in the Southern Conference's North Division.
"This is a huge win," Head Coach Lisa Rhodes said. "We had some goals we wanted to accomplish this week and winning this game was one of them because we knew second place in the division was on the line. Now if we can come out and beat Elon tomorrow, then that will only strengthen our position in the division."
Ashley Yeager and Aurore Kullak both led the Lady Mocs with 13 kills apiece on the afternoon, while Michaela Huff had a team-high 25 assists. Laura Nethery had a strong afternoon as well, as the senior put down 12 kills and posted a .458 hitting percentage, which tied for the team's season-high with Courtney Barnes accomplished the feat on Oct. 3 against Appalachian State.
On defense, libero Lara Newberry continued her season-long strong play with a match-high 34 digs, while the Lady Mocs out-blocked the Spartans 10 ?-9 ?. Chattanooga had four players with at least 3 blocking assists as Courtney Barnes (7), Jessica Scott (5), Huff (4), and Laura Nethery (3) held the Spartans to a .139 hitting percentage.
UNC Greensboro's Branagan Fuller posted a match-high 18 kills in the loss for the Spartans, while Kayren Finney hit .333 and added on 15 kills. Kimiko Naito led all players with 34 assists, and Catherine Hanners had 21 digs for UNCG.
In the opening set, the Lady Mocs were able to escape with the 27-25 victory after UNC Greensboro led for the majority of the set. The Spartans would actually lead 24-22 before a Kullak kill and a Spartan error tied the match at 24. After trading points, the Lady Mocs would finally put UNCG away by another kill from Kullak.
The Spartans would take the second set of the match 26-24 as both teams went to the locker rooms with a 1-1 tie. The Lady Mocs came out in the third set and jumped out to a quick 7-1 lead to give itself the early advantage. Much like the first two sets however, UNCG would fight right back to tie the match up at 13.
Both teams would go back-and-forth in the pivotal set all the way to a 23-all tie. From that point, back-to-back errors would doom the Spartans as the Lady Mocs took the set 25-23 and the 2-1 lead in the match.
In the fourth set, the Lady Mocs and Spartans would once again find itself in a battle as both teams battled back-and-forth to a 13-12 UTC advantage. From that point, the Lady Mocs were able to extend a lead significant in the match as the team went on a 6-0 run. That run would prove costly for the Spartans as UNCG would fight back, but came up short in the final set, 25-23.
The Lady Mocs will wrap up its weekend on Sunday against Elon. First serve is scheduled for 4 p.m. from Maclellan Gymnasium.
