The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team completed a thrilling 3-2 comeback against former Southern Conference rival Appalachian State in the opening day of the Scenic City Showdown – presented by Hampton Inn & Suites (Downtown Chattanooga) – on Friday night in Maclellan Gym.
The Mountaineers claimed the first two sets of the match by scores of 25-20 and 25-22 before UTC claimed the last three 25-16, 25-19 and 15-8 to win a five-set thriller.
The win improved Chattanooga to a 6-5 record on the season and extended their home-winning streak to 18 games dating back to last season. With the loss, Appalachian State falls to 2-9.
"I'm really proud. Really proud. We had such a gauntlet the last six matches (three power-five conference opponents) … I really felt this group could handle that," said coach
Travis Filar.
"I thought we had a great week of practice and we started out slow tonight, but they proved to me tonight that we gained experience and stuck with it. We got into a good rhythm in the second set and carried it all the way through."
"We became a tough team tonight and I'm just extremely proud," added Filar.
Senior leadership proved to be the difference on offense as
Kristy Wieser (Lincoln, Neb.) and
Allie Davenport (Tyrone, Ga.) recorded 17 and 13 kills, respectively, while Wieser hit at a match-high .406 percentage and Davenport finished at a .211 clip. Sophomore
Miranda Elpers (Louisville, Ky.) also registered double-digit kills with 12 on a .190 hitting percentage.
Sophomore
Emily Plumlee (Chesapeake, Va.) contributed to the offensive attack with nine kills on a .208 percentage while freshman
Brianna Anderson (Austin, Texas) chipped in with seven kills.
UTC finished the five-set match hitting at a .220 clip, out-hitting the .138 percentage posted by Appalachian State, while finishing the fifth set hitting a blistering .450.
The offense was directed by a pair of junior setters in
Madison Bergren (Muncie, Ind.) and
Lauren Greenspoon (Houston, Texas) who dished out 28 and 27 assists, respectively.
Defensively, the match saw four different Mocs post double-digit digs with starting libero
Rachel Petkosh (Merritt Island, Fla.) leading with a match-high 27 digs. Elpers completed the kills-digs double-double by totaling 15 digs in the win. Freshman
Bailey Clemons (Nashville, Tenn.) registered a career-high 13 digs as Davenport also posted a kills-digs double-double by adding eleven kills.
The defense at the net was led by Plumlee, who also notched a career-high, collecting a five blocks to lead the match. Five different Mocs chipped in with at least one block despite being out-blocked by the Mountaineers by a 9.0-6.0 margin.
UTC looks to protect their home court tomorrow with two tough opponents in Tennessee State and Ole Miss.
"We face two really good opponents, Tennessee State plays a tough an athletic game at the net, and Ole Miss is another great team that's well-coached that also plays physical at the net, so we're excited for the challenge tomorrow."
Chattanooga will play their first match tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. against Tennessee State before concluding the Scenic City Showdown in Macllelan Gym with a 7:00 p.m. start against Southeastern Conference member Ole Miss. Admission is FREE and links to LIVE VIDEO and LIVE STATS are available on GoMocs.com as well as the TOURNAMENT CENTRAL link in this story.
