CHATTANOOGA --- The Chattanooga Mocs (8-16, 4-7 SoCon) volleyball squad earned a marathon second set victory, but ultimately fell to the Southern Conference leading ETSU Bucs (20-5, 9-1 SoCon), 3-1 (25-15, 30-32, 25-21, 25-22) on Friday evening's Alumni Night inside Maclellan Gymnasium.
 
Chattanooga drops to 4-7 in conference action and slips to seventh place in the most recent league standings. ETSU continues its incredible season, improving to 20-5 overall and 9-1 in SoCon play. The Bucs currently sit 43^rd in the latest NCAA RPI rankings & previously received votes in the AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll. The Mocs dropped just its seventh SoCon match inside Maclellan since the start of the 2015 season, going 23-7 during that span.

Chattanooga volleyball welcomed numerous former student-athletes back to Maclellan Gymnasium for a special 'Alumni Night' during Homecoming weekend. The program recognized the 1998 Southern Conference Championship team and then-head coach Lisa Rhodes with a pre-match ceremony. A few members of the 2015 SoCon title team were singled out during their return in addition to over 20 other former alums from past years including current NCAA all-time digs leader Lara Newberry. 

Match recap, stats and what's next up for Chattanooga is below. Photos can be found at the link above.
 
MATCH RECAP
ETSU 3, Chattanooga 1
ETSU started the match with a dominant 25-15 victory in the opening set before Chattanooga rallied for a 32-30 win in the second to tie the match 1-1 at the break. UTC fought off three ETSU match points during that second set, in which featured 10 ties and eight lead changes. The Bucs flexed their muscles down the stretch, fighting off UTC in the third and fourth sets, 25-21 and 25-22, respectively, to earn the four set win.
 
Chattanooga was out-attacked by its opposition in both kills (54-49) and hitting percentage (.204-.094) while also trailing on defense in digs (93-80) and team blocks (16.0-5.0). The league's top serving team, UTC totaled nine aces in the four sets, the most for the program in a four-set SoCon match since Oct. 29, 2015 (at Mercer).
 
Gylian Finch (13) and Ally Ford (10) reached double-digits in kills together for the third time this season. Finch posted her fourth double-double of the season by adding 11 digs while Ford notched a new career-high in service aces with five. It marks the third time a Moc recorded five aces in a match this season.
 
Dani Szczepanski added seven kills and a pair of block assists while fellow middle blocker Emily Plumlee totaled six kills at a .214 hitting percentage. Sarah Root saw action in the final three sets, finishing with five kills at a team-high .417 percentage while chipping in with two block assists.
 
Miranda Elpers registered four kills (.333) including the set-clincher in the second frame while also adding 15 digs, fourth most in a match for her this season. Mikaela Gauthreaux and Eden Murray both chipped in with two kills for UTC.
 
Jaquelyn Langhaim and Maddie Halsey quarterbacked the offense, finishing with 22 and 18 assists, respectively. Langhaim recorded nine digs while Halsey ended with five digs and a service ace.
 
Defensively, Brenna Everingham shined in her first career start at the libero position, posting a pair of new career-highs. The freshman set new personal bests in both digs (19) and service aces (3) while extending numerous key rallies with her defensive efforts.
 
UP NEXT
Chattanooga hosts UNCG (10-14, 4-8 SoCon) tomorrow night at 6 p.m. inside Maclellan Gymnasium in Southern Conference action. An autograph session with UTC Volleyball will commence on the floor after the conclusion of the match. Live stats are available on GoMocs.com.

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