CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team dropped a tough 3-0 match to Furman Friday evening in Greenville, S.C. Despite a .208 hitting percentage for UTC in the contest, the Paladin attackers proved to be too much with 49 kills and a crushing .396 hitting percentage.
“I think at times we did enough on offense to put some pressure on Furman, but we never really were able to any blocking or defensive rhythm,” Head Coach Travis Filar said. “Furman's offense was clicking on all cylinders, but we are excited to get back to competition tomorrow against The Citadel.”
The bright spot for Chattanooga came with Chattanooga sophomores Kristy Wieser (Lincoln, Neb.) and Allie Davenport (Tyrone, Ga.) recording double-digit kills, with Wieser downing 13 and Davenport with 10. Freshman Lauren Greenspoon (Houston, Texas) and sophomore Anne Bachmann (Lincoln, Neb.) added 18 and 15 assists, respectively, and sophomore Nicole Sumida (Hixson, Tenn.) tacked on four blocks.
The Paladins totaled 16 kills and a match-best .519 percentage in the first set, downing UTC 25-13. Furman scored the first point and never relinquished the advantage – allowing no ties and no lead changes.
After dropping the first by 12 points, the Mocs made the second set exciting by sending the frame to extra points. Chattanooga forced Furman to win by two, pushing the eventual final score before the half to 28-26.
Furman returned after the break to take a 25-16 victory, claiming the match 25-16. Overall, the Paladins out-blocked UTC 9.0-5.0, and posted 11 more kills than Mocs hitters. The loss drops Chattanooga to 4-3 in the Southern Conference while Furman improves to 6-1 in the league with its only loss coming to Western Carolina, thus far.
Chattanooga returns to action Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m. to take on The Citadel in the programs' second meeting of the season. UTC defeated the Bulldogs just over two weeks ago with a 3-0 victory at Maclellan Gym. Links to both live stats and the SoCon Digital Network are available on the GoMocs.com volleyball schedule page.
