CHATTANOOGA --- The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team (9-18, 5-9 SoCon) gets set for its final two Southern Conference regular season matches of the season with a Wednesday night trip to Samford (14-14, 9-5 SoCon) ahead of a Friday night showdown on Senior Night against Western Carolina (12-13, 6-8 SoCon) in Maclellan Gymnasium.
 
Wednesday night's match in Birmingham is slated for an 8 p.m. ET start while Friday's contest in the Mac will begin at 5 p.m. Chattanooga will honor its five seniors with a pre-match ceremony on Friday night.
 
Final seeding for the upcoming SoCon Tournament in Greensboro, N.C., sorts out by Saturday night when the bracket releases to the public. Currently, UTC sits as the No. 8 seed with a potential opening round matchup against The Citadel. With a pair of wins, a seed as high as sixth is possible.
 
"As can be seen throughout the conference standings, this league is as good as it has ever been top to bottom, and I think anyone can beat anyone on a given night," said head coach Travis Filar. "With that being said, I'd take our group of kids over anyone's, and I think at our best, we can compete with and beat anyone in the league.
 
"That is how much confidence I have in this group and I think recently we have trained at a consistently higher level than we have all season and that is the goal."
 
ETSU has clinched the regular season title with a 13-1 mark while Samford follows in second at 9-5. Three teams (Wofford, Furman and Mercer) carry even 7-7 records while WCU, UNCG and Chattanooga all sit within two matches.
 
UTC is coming off a 1-1 weekend where they dropped a 3-0 match at Mercer on Friday before claiming its fourth five-set win in as many tries this season on Saturday at The Citadel.
 
QUOTES

• "We have to put that training to a consistent level of execution in matches, and when we do that, I think we will be playing our best volleyball of the year at the most important time, which is this week at Samford and at home against Western Carolina. We do those things; I know we will be a tough team to play in Greensboro at the tournament."

        - Travis Filar, Head Coach
 
NOTES

• FRIDAY DOUBLE DIP: Following the 5 p.m. match against Western Carolina, the Chattanooga Mocs women's basketball team will host No. 5 Louisville inside McKenzie Arena at 7 p.m. For ticket information including a special 'BOGO' promotion for home events the rest of the weekend (WRES, MBB & FB), call the ticket office at (423) 266-MOCS.
• SENIOR LEGACY: Chattanooga will honor its five seniors (Miranda Elpers, Lindsay Farrell, Ally Ford, Eden Murray and Emily Plumlee) on Friday with a pre-match ceremony. The five seniors helped provide a SoCon regular season title, two SoCon tournament championship match appearances and an impressive 41-13 (.759) record inside Maclellan Gym since 2015.
• SOCON TOURNAMENT: The 2018 edition of the Southern Conference volleyball championships will be held November 16-18 in Greensboro, N.C., on the campus of UNCG. Tournament info can be found HERE.

ABOUT OPPONENTS
Samford enters Wednesday's contest with a 14-14 overall record and a 9-5 mark in conference play. The Bulldogs fell in five sets on Saturday at Mercer after sweeping The Citadel in straight-sets on Friday. Chattanooga earned a thrilling 3-2 win over Samford inside Maclellan back on Oct. 10. Krista Boesing leads the offense with a 3.60 kills per set average, which ranks third in the SoCon.
 
Western Carolina boats a young lineup with 11 underclassmen and only four upperclassmen, but has played to a 12-13 overall record and a 6-8 record in the league. WCU is on a current two-match skid after falling to both Wofford and Furman last weekend, but defeated Chattanooga in Cullowhee on Oct. 13. The team ranks second in the SoCon in digs per set (16.68) and is led by Megan Sanchez, who sits fourth with a 4.58 per set average.

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