CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team closed out the regular season Saturday night at Maclellan Gym, honoring seniors Melissa Green (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Brianna Guzinski (Jacksonville,Fla.) before the start of UTC's match against Furman.
The Paladins claimed a 3-0 win over the Mocs to solidify their spot at the top of the SoCon rankings as the regular season champ and No. 1 seed going into the conference tournament. Chattanooga, falling to 6-10 with the loss, awaits its seeding as Mercer and Western Carolina square off tomorrow to round of the full season's schedule.
Despite the sweep, the Mocs were competitive against the league's best record, forcing scores of 26-24, 25-19 and 25-22. As a team, UTC out-blocked Furman 11.0-2.0 with a dominant performance on the net, and junior Sarah Batterton (Colbert, Wash.) posted a quiet 11 kills with a .429 hitting percentage. Sophomore Nicole Sumida (Hixson, Tenn.) was responsible for many of Furman's hardships at the net, blocking up eight spikes assisted and one solo.
“I was really proud of the way we fought tonight,” Head Coach Travis Filar said. “We had a few too many off plays at the end of each set and some untimely forced errors that allowed Furman to feel not as pressured as what they did early on. I think the team represented our two seniors amazingly well tonight, and I know the team is very excited to get into Greensboro next week to begin the SoCon Tournament.”
Chattanooga jumped out to an early 6-0 lead on the Paladins that eventually swelled to a 10-3 advantage to begin the match. Sophomore Anne Bachmann was responsible for six points as the first in the rotation, including an ace. With Allie Davenport (Tyrone, Ga.) serving next in the rotation, the Mocs tacked on three more points with yet another ace. However, Furman was able to string together key multi-point runs to bring the score even at 24-24. Back-to-back kills gave Furman a 1-0 set lead.
Furman had its best set in the second with a .351 hitting percentage. The six-point win was the largest final deficit of the night for the Mocs. Chattanooga charged back in the third set, but the post-intermission jolt was not enough to give UTC a win as it fell by just three points.
The Mocs are back in action Nov. 22 – 24 as they travel to Greensboro, N.C., to compete in the Southern Conference Tournament. Final seedings are set to be announced tomorrow evening.
