CHATTANOOGA --- The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team used a strong second set comeback win to push Illinois to four sets, eventually falling 3-1 (25-14, 25-27, 25-16, 25-11) at the Dr. Wynn Invitational hosted by Missouri State on Friday afternoon.

The loss drops the Mocs to 7-6 overall this season while the Fighting Illini improved to 7-2.

Illinois attacked at an impressive .636 percentage in the first set compared to the Mocs modest .156. The script would flip in the second set as Chattanooga out-attacked Illinois .333 to .059 and out-blocked the third-ranked blocking team in NCAA DI 4.0 to 1.0. Illinois would respond with a combined .305 attacking clip and 8.0 total blocks in the final two sets.

Chattanooga finished the match with an .098 percentage and suffered a 12.0 to 6.0 disadvantage in the blocks category. The Mocs were held to only four kills on a -.269 percentage in the final fourth set, a 25-11 loss. The Illini totaled eight service aces while the Mocs only registered one ace and committed six errors from the line.
 
Chattanooga concludes the Missouri State Invitational and their non-conference slate tomorrow against Washington State at 12:30 p.m. ET. Live stats are available on GoMocs.com under the schedule page.
 
Match Stats & Notes
- Ally Ford finished with a match-high 16 kills on a .132 percentage ... has totaled 49 kills in the last 12 sets (4.08 per set average).
- Maddie Halsey set career-highs across the board in first extended action ... dished out 25 assists ... added four kills and six digs.
- Brianna Anderson totaled a season-high nine kills ... most for her since Oct. 22, 2016 against Mercer (10).
- Dani Szczepanski, Emily Plumlee & Sarah Root each racked up 3.0 total blocks ... all three combined for 3.0 blocks in the second set win.

Illinois 3, Chattanooga 1
1^st Set | UI 25, UTC 14
With the Mocs trailing 6-4 to begin the set, Illinois went on a 9-1 run from that point to build a 15-6 advantage. The Mocs and Fighting Illini would go back-and-forth before Illinois captured the set in convincing fashion, 25-14, to take a 1-0 lead in the match. UI hit at an impressive .633 percentage while holding the Mocs to a .156 clip.
 
2^nd Set | UTC 27, UI 25
With the second set tied 7-7 in the first 14 points, the Illini scored three-straight on a kill and a pair of aces to force Chattanooga into their first timeout of the set. Illinois would build on the 10-7 lead by taking eight of the next 12 to jump out in front 18-11 and forcing the final UTC timeout. The Illini would score the next two of three, but it was all Chattanooga from that point. The Mocs, trailing 20-12, would battle all the way back on a 12-4 run, fighting off an Illinois set point at 24-23 to tie things up 24-24. A Chattanooga attacking error would land the Illini on another set point, but a kill from Sarah Root fended off the clinching point. An Illinois attacking error and a service ace from Megan Kaufman earned the Mocs a 27-25 comeback win to tie the match up 1-1 at the break.
 
3^rd Set | UI 25, UTC 15
Illinois came out of the break by scoring seven of the first nine points and forced an early timeout from Chattanooga. The Illini kept the pace by extending a ten-point lead at 17-7 and didn't relinquish a lead of less than seven points, ultimately taking the set 25-15 and a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
4^th Set | UI 25, UTC 11
Similar to the third set, Illinois jumped out on Chattanooga early and forced both timeouts at 6-1 and 11-3, respectively. The Mocs and Illini would trade the next ten points to bring the score to 16-8. Illinois would prove to be too much down the stretch as they finished off Chattanooga by a score of 25-11 in the set and 3-1 in the match.