CHATTANOOGA --- The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team earned an opening set victory before being edged in the final three during a tight 3-1 (19-25, 26-24, 25-20, 28-26) loss to Mercer on Sunday evening inside Maclellan Gymnasium.
 
Following the loss, Chattanooga falls to 5-6 overall and 3-6 in Southern Conference action. Mercer extends its winning streak to six matches and improves its record to 7-5 overall and 6-1 in league play.
 
MATCH BASICS | BOX
SET 1 | UTC 25, MER 19
SET 2 | MER 26, UTC 24
SET 3 | MER 25, UTC 20
SET 4 | MER 28, UTC 26
 
Chattanooga raced out to a convincing victory in the opening set, 25-19, forcing Mercer into 10 attacking errors and limiting its attack to a .029% percentage. UTC committed just three attacking errors and posted a .217% hitting percentage and a 78% (15-of-19) sideout success rate.
 
Mercer responded with a high-powered attack in a second set win, 26-24. The Bears recorded 20 kills at a .311% clip in the set to help rally from a 19-14 deficit to tie the match 1-1.
 
UTC scored the first six points of the third set before Mercer answered with a 12-4 run to pull ahead 12-10. After a back-and-forth battle and a 19-19 deadlock tie, the Bears scored six of the final seven points to earn a 25-20 set victory and a 2-1 advantage in the match.
 
Chattanooga opened the must-win fourth set with five-straight points and maintained a slight lead over the next few rallies, 14-10. Mercer pulled ahead 20-19 before allowing UTC to tally five of the next seven to push things to set point 24-22. The Bears fought off each Chattanooga set point down the stretch and captured a 28-26 set win, and a 3-1 match victory.  
 
MacKenzie Saitta (Elkhorn, Neb.) led the offensive attack with 13 kills at a .194% efficiency rate while Maia Rackel (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) added 10 kills at the same rate of efficiency. Gylian Finch (Mt. Morris, Ill.) followed with nine kills.
 
Defensively, Paige Gallentine (Fenton, Mich.) led the team with 15 digs while Emma Perkins (Rossville, Tenn.) and Sophia Bossong (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) chipped in with eight apiece. Rackel finished with a team-high 4.0 blocks in addition to Kate Neill (Plymouth, Minn.) who added 3.0 during the four-set match.
 
Bossong and Bailey Steger (Half Moon Bay, Calif.) directed the offense with 19 and 16 assists, respectively.
 
UP NEXT
Chattanooga (5-6, 3-6 SoCon) wraps up the two-match season series with Mercer (7-5, 6-1 SoCon) tomorrow at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN+. Match coverage links are located on the schedule page.

MORE ABOUT CHATTANOOGA VOLLEYBALL
Watch "Mission First, Family Always" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8mOmxbzHk4&t=2s
Read "Mission First, Family Always" here: https://gomocs.com/news/2019/9/27/general-chatt-chats-mission-first-family-always.aspx?path=general

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