DAYTON, OHIO (Sept. 3) -- The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team earned a split on Saturday by first defeating Xavier 3-1 and then eventually fell to tournament-host Dayton 3-0 in the final day of the Dayton Invitational.

The Muskateers, a Big East Conference member, took the first set by winning 25-22. The Mocs captured the last three sets by scores of 25-23, 28-26 and 25-22.

With the win, Chattanooga is now 5-1 on the season and looking to improve that record tonight against Dayton. Xavier drops to 2-3 on the year after the loss.

"This was a great team win by our kids," said coach Travis Filar after the match. "This win is as big as the win over Virginia Tech last year as Xavier is a very talented, well coached and NCAA tournament caliber team."

The Mocs used a balanced attack in the win by registering 52 kills as a team, with four different players in double-digits, and collected nine total team blocks against Xavier's six team blocks. UTC finished with a .205 hitting percentage.

Senior Kristy Wieser (Lincoln, Neb.) had 12 kills while hitting at a .320 clip and also registered a solo block and a block assist. Sophomore Miranda Elpers (Louisville, Ky.) posted a double-double with 12 kills and 11 digs during the win. Senior Allie Davenport (Tyrone, Ga.) also earned a double-double by way of 11 kills and 13 digs in the match while also chipping in with four service aces. Adding to the offensive attack was Dani Szczepanski (Cincinnati, Ohio) who finished with 11 kills on a .231 hitting percentage.

Junior Lauren Greenspoon (Houston, Texas) paced UTC with a match-high 46 assists and also collected two block assists. Defensively, starting libero Rachel Petkosh (Merritt Island, Fla.) led the team with 21 digs. Staying on the defensive side, Szczepanski posted seven blocks with two solo and five assists.

"Our kids competed, were solid and consistent in all phases of the game and made huge plays in the biggest moments, I couldn't be more proud of them," added Filar.

During the second leg of a Saturday doubleheader for Chattanooga, the Mocs fell to tournament-host Dayton 3-0 as the final game in the Dayton Invitational.

Dayton captured three straight sets by scores of 25-23, 25-22, and 25-20.

With the loss, UTC falls to 5-2 on the season. Dayton, an Atlantic 10 Conference member, improves to a perfect 7-0 on the year, the first time winning the opening seven games since 2009.

"Overall the experience and competition we saw this weekend was exactly what I was hoping for and the growth of our team over the weekend was positive," said Filar. "We did some really good things, yet we also have a lot to improve on and I know we will do just that this week in practice."

Davenport led the way for Chattanooga by posting her second straight double-double with a season-high 18 kills, adding 10 digs and finishing with a .366 hitting percentage. Freshman Brianna Anderson (Austin, Texas) added to the Mocs attack with seven kills and a hitting clip of .333. Elpers also collected seven kills on offense for UTC. Szczepanski chipped in with five kills on a .308 hitting percentage.

Greenspoon again led the Mocs with 33 assists and dished out 102 total assists over the weekend. Defensively, Chattanooga had three players with double-digit digs including Elpers (12), Davenport (10) and Petkosh (13). UTC was out-blocked by the Flyers 12-2.  

"I like where we are and I truly feel this group will have the right training mentality to be a team that gets better and will be playing their best volleyball at the most important time," added Filar.

Chattanooga will return to action next weekend (Sept. 9-10) in Omaha, Neb. as part of the Creighton Invitational. The Mocs will face nationally-ranked competition over the weekend by opening up with #5 Kansas on Friday at 4:30 p.m. and then will face TCU at 1 p.m. and #18 Creighton at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday. You can follow the action with LIVE STATS on GoMocs.com.