Courtesy: GoMocs.com Junior outside Jennifer Kuroski paced the Mocs offense with 12 kills against the Bucs.

East Tenn. St. at Chattanooga Sept. 9, 2011 Chattanooga, Tenn. (Maclellan Gym) Team 1 2 3 Score Winthrop 25 28 25 3 Chattanooga 19 26 22 0

East Tennessee State (5-4) (Kills-aces-blocks) - DEVINE, Megan 13-1-1; HARDY, Meredith 10-0-1; STANCLIFF, Jamie 9-1-1; GESELL, Bethany 6-0-0; WILLIAMS, Kayla 4-0-0; RICE, Ivey 4-1-1; BARBER, McKayla 3-0-0; TAMBLYN, Kiley 0-1-0; Totals 49-4-2.0. (Assists) - WILLIAMS, Kayla 40. (Dig leaders) - TAMBLYN, Kiley 20; DEVINE, Megan 99 Chattanooga (1-7) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Jennifer Kuroski 12-0-2; Heather Parman 8-0-0; Ellie Kuhn 7-0-1; Christina Teter 5-0-3; Jessi Blackstock 2-0-0; Kasey Talley 1-0-4; Bridget Camacho 0-1-0; Tess Kosycarz 0-1-0; Totals 35-2-7.0. (Assists) - Tess Kosycarz 22. (Dig leaders) - Paula Passmore 12; Melissa Green 9

Match Notes -

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (GoMocs.com) - The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball opened the Country Inns & Suites Invitational at Maclellan Gym on Friday falling to East Tennessee State, 3- 0 (25-19, 28-26, 25-22), in a competitive match that saw 28 ties and 15 lead changes. Pacing the offensive attack was sophomore outside Jennifer Kuroski (Acworth, Ga.) compiled  a .370 hitting percentage with 12 kills.

"We have let our opponents off the hook at times this year and did it again tonight," said head coach Travis Filar. "We should have been tied 1-1 at the split and feeling really good about how we played in the second set, but a couple of unforced errors at the end were really costly."

Adding to the offense was junior outside Heather Parman (Ooltewah, Tenn.) with seven kills along with senior middle blocker Ellie Kuhn (San Antonio, Texas) with seven. Combining for 33 assists were sophomores Tess Kosycarz (Temecula, Calif.) and Bridget Camacho (Cumming, Ga.).

"We are getting close and made great strides tonight," said Filar. "I thought we had really good play from our outsides because they took care of the ball."

Chattanooga did dominate the net in the blocking game coming up with seven total blocks as junior right side Christina Teter (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) tied a career-best with three solo blocks. Freshman middle blocker Kasey Talley (Boiling Springs, S.C.) recorded a match-high four blocks against the Bucs.

Junior Paula Passmore (Merritt Island, Fla.) led the Mocs defensive effort with 12 digs, while freshman Melissa Green (Boca Raton, Fla.) added nine. Also contributing to the defense was Parman with seven and Kuhn had four.

The first set began with the teams fighting back and forth with a nine-all tie before ETSU grabbed a 12-9 lead. Chattanooga used  a kill by Kuhn and a block by Talley and Kuhn to knot the set at 13. A turning point in the frame was the Bucs winning a long rally to take a 17-14 lead.

From there, ETSU cruised to a 25-19 first set victory. Chattanooga notched nine kills during the frame, but the Bucs were more efficient totaling 14 and hitting at .312.

Chattanooga and ETSU battled point-for-point through the first 14 games of the second set before the Mocs scored three-straight to take a 10-7 lead. A service ace by Kosycarz stretched the advantage to 15-10 before the Bucs rallied to knot the frame.

Once again, the Mocs built a three-point lead, 20-17, but ETSU continued to fight back. A long rally where each team had seven touches ended on a Teter kill putting Chattanooga up, 22-20. The match was then tied at 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26 in an action packed set highlighted by kills from Parman and Kuhn.

"Closing out a set really is a learning process," said Filar. "It comes down to fighting the same way from point one to point five to point 25 and that is what we are trying to figure out. It is very hard to do and takes a big emotional and physical investment."

The Bucs remained on top taking advantage of mistakes to closed out the frame, 28-26. There were 14 ties and seven lead changes between the two squads. Kuhn and Kuroski paced the Mocs with five and four kills, respectively, as the team totaled 14.

Coming out of the intermission, ETSU took control of the frame rolling off five-straight points after the set was tied at four. The Bucs reached set point with a 24-16 advantage, but the Mocs fought till the end keeping rallies alive using two kills by Parman to extend the action.

ETSU closed out the frame on their eighth match point, 25-22. Chattanooga notched a match-high 12 kills during the set as Kuroski and Parman added five each.

"We have a quick turn around playing two games tomorrow, but it is our home tournament," said Filar. "My challenge to the team was there is no reason to hold our heads down low. Tomorrow is a new day. We are getting better. There is going to be a moment this season when everything clicks, and we understand how hard we have to fight for the entire match."

The Mocs continue the Country Inns and Suites Invitational on Saturday playing two matches against Tennessee Tech at 10 a.m. and UNC Asheville at 4 p.m. Chattanooga heads to Blacksburg, Va., on Friday for the Hokie Invitational beginning at 4 p.m. against Connecticut.