CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at
Chattanooga volleyball team fell in four sets to Appalachian State on Saturday
night, 3-1 (26-24, 25-20, 24-26, 25-14), at Maclellan Gym. Junior middle
blocker Christina Teter (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) tied a match-high with 13
kills and hit at a .345 rate.
"Christina [Teter] helps us a lot and she is doing that with
everybody in the conference knowing that she is going to get the ball when we
pass well," said head coach Travis Filar. "They are going to commit with her
and it is going to be a big double block. She did extremely well tonight,
however, there is room for improvement and we need for her to get kills in
transition."
Distributing the ball on the offensive attack for
Chattanooga (5-24, 3-12, SoCon) was Bridget Camacho (Cumming, Ga.) with 32 assists
and earned her fifth double-double of the campaign with 12 digs against
Appalachian State (19-10, 11-4 SoCon).
Sophomore outside Jennifer Kuroski (Acworth, Ga.) posted 10
kills, while freshman middle blocker Kasey Talley (Boiling Springs, S.C.)
notched seven.
The Mocs defense was led by freshman libero Melissa Green
(Boca Raton, Fla.) with 23 digs. Also registering double-digit digs was junior
defensive specialist Paula Passmore (Merrit Island, Fla.) and Kuroski.
Pacing the Chattanooga blocking game was Teter with five and
Talley, Kuroski and Camacho registered two each.
"I thought our blocking at times was very disciplined," said Filar. "We had some good touches and dug really well around the block. Melissa [Green] play phenomenal and it is good to have Paula [Passmore] back. Tess [Kosycarz] came in and did a nice job defensively. We put ourselves in opportunities and just needed to find one of our pin attackers either side to make some plays."
Appalachian State was led by Allison Blasingame with 13
kills. Two Mountaineers recorded double-doubles with Kasey Sauls posting 39
assists and 11 digs and Anna Wagner with 10 kills and 14 digs. Courtney Rhein
tallied 23 digs in the contest.
In the first set, both teams came out fighting for each
point before Chattanooga rallied to a 12-8 lead on a kill by Kuroski. The Mountaineers
scored a point on eight-straight rallies to take a 18-14 advantage. Chattanooga
responded with Kosycarz on the service line with an ace and two kills by Parman
to knot the frame up at 19-all.
The lead changed again as Courtney Rhein took service for
Appalachian State and guided it to a 24-21 advantage, but the Mocs would
continue to fight back tying the set up at 24 on a kill by Kuroski before
Appalachian State closed it out, 26-24.
"I
liked our fight to get back in the set, however, what we have to realize to
move forward and get better is that when an opponent fights back," said Filar. "You have to
then be more aggressive and fight harder than they. Tonight for the most part,
when App stayed on us, we were either even in our fight or a lot of times we
let their fight over power us."
After seeing 10 ties and six lead changes in the first set,
Appalachian State took a commanding 13-8 lead that ended a 6-1 rally in the
second. Chattanooga continued to challenge the Mountaineers, but was unable to
come closer than four points in the 25-20 defeat.
Coming out of the intermission, the Mountaineers came out
and earned an 8-3 lead. They would hold a four-point advantage until
Chattanooga used kills by Parman to cap a 3-1 run to knot the score at 17-all.
A kill by Camacho and service ace from Passmore put the Mocs up 24-21, but the
Mountaineers would tie it at 24-all, before Chattanooga clinched the set with a
Kuroski kill and a mistake from ASU.
The Mocs played excellent defense towards the end of the
third frame providing additional opportunities for its offense.
During the fourth set, Appalachian State controlled the
frame by opening it on a 10-1 run. From there, the Mountaineers would go on to
close out the match, 25-15.
Chattanooga completes the regular season on Sunday with a 3
p.m. match against Western Carolina at Maclellan Gym. Fans away from the Scenic
City can follow the action with links to live stats and video on the volleyball
schedule page of GoMocs.com.
