CHATTANOOGA --- The Chattanooga Mocs (10-19, 6-10 SoCon) volleyball team wrapped up regular season play with a 3-1 (25-22, 15-25, 25-14, 25-14) victory over Western Carolina (12-14, 6-9 SoCon) on Senior Night inside Maclellan Gymnasium Friday evening.
 
Chattanooga finishes the season with a 10-19 overall record and a 6-10 mark in conference play. WCU falls to 12-14 overall and 6-9 in the league with one match remaining on their schedule.
 
On a special night honoring this year's senior class of Miranda Elpers, Lindsey Farrell, Ally Ford, Eden Murray and Emily Plumlee, it was important to the team and staff to send them out of Maclellan with a win in their last match.
 
"You always want to get your seniors that last win at home. I'm really proud of that group and I'm happy we were able to do that," said head coach Travis Filar.
 
"All five of them had opportunities and were a part of this win. I told the team to fight for them and fight for each other. Now we're ready to fight in Greensboro."
 
With the final SoCon standings still waiting to be shaken out, UTC is currently in eighth place with the same amount of wins as WCU (6). WCU heads to Samford tomorrow night for their final match of the season.
 
In the case of a Samford win, the Mocs would pull ahead of WCU into the seventh seed due to the tiebreaking rules of total combined points in both of their meetings this season. If UNCG closes out the season 1-1, UTC falls to eighth place due to the three-way tie system. The bracket will be released tomorrow evening, follow @GoMocsVB on Twitter for the first look.
 
MATCH RECAP
Chattanooga 3, W. Carolina 1
Chattanooga opened the match up with a 25-22 win in the opening set before falling in the second, 25-15. With the match tied 1-1, UTC grabbed all momentum with a dominant 25-14 winning performance in the third before ending the match in the fourth with the same 25-14 advantage.
 
The Mocs used a balanced, efficient offensive attack to grab control of the match. UTC attacked at a .270 hitting percentage, the fourth-highest total of the season, and finished with 60 kills, tied for the second-most in a match this season. Defensively, the home team limited the visitors to 41 kills at a .156 percentage and recorded 13 more digs (87-74).
 
Three different Mocs reached double figures in the kill column with Gylian Finch leading the way with a match-high 14 kills at a .233 clip. Dani Szczepanski posted 13 kills at an even .500 percentage while Ally Ford followed with 10 kills at a .241 number. Szczepanski posted four blocks, two solo and two assists to finish with a match-high 16.0 points.
 
Eden Murray and Mikaela Gauthreaux each finished with seven kills at a combined .226 efficiency percentage. Murray totaled five of her seven kills in just the first set alone while recording a block assist in addition. Emily Plumlee added five kills and two block assists.
 
Jaquelyn Langhaim recorded her ninth double-double of the season after dishing out 38 assists and registering 13 digs on the defensive end while serving up a pair of aces as well. Maddie Halsey assisted on a kill 10 times and posted six digs for the Mocs.
Four different Mocs reached double digits in digs with Brenna Everingham pacing the entire match with 23, second-most of her rookie season. Miranda Elpers crossed 1,200 career digs in the match after totaling 15 while Langhaim and Finch trailed with 13 and 10, respectively.
 
SOUND OFF
"I'm really pleased with our teams effort tonight. I thought that was a really good team win, player-to-player. Everyone who was called upon came in and did nice things. We knew it was going to be about our side tonight and being cleaner than we have been taking care of the ball. Most importantly, we have some momentum headed into Greensboro."
- Travis Filar, Head Coach
 
NOTES

• UTC honored the five seniors (Miranda Elpers, Lindsey Farrell, Ally Ford, Eden Murray and Emily Plumlee) of the 2018 class with a pre-match ceremony.
• The senior class has combined for a 42-13 record inside Maclellan Gymnasium over the last four seasons & a 3.65 GPA inside the classroom.
• Chattanooga has now won at least six SoCon games for five-straight seasons, the longest span since 2003-2007.

UP NEXT
Chattanooga heads to Greensboro, N.C., next weekend (Nov. 16-18) for this year's edition of the Southern Conference Tournament on the campus of UNCG. UTC will learn its seeding for the championship after Saturday's final matches across the league.


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