CHATTANOOGA --- The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team earned a thrilling 3-2 (23-25, 30-28, 25-15, 15-25, 15-7) victory over league-leading Samford, halting the Bulldogs' win streak at 11 matches and opportunity to clinch the Southern Conference regular season title on Monday afternoon inside Maclellan Gymnasium.
 
Chattanooga improves to 6-10 overall and 4-10 in league play following the victory. In addition, UTC sees a five-match skid come to an end. Samford falls to 12-2 both overall and in the SoCon. The Bulldogs can clinch the regular season title with a win next week at The Citadel, or a Mercer loss.
 
MATCH BASICS | BOX
SET 1 | SAM 25, UTC 23
SET 2 | UTC 30, SAM 28
SET 3 | UTC 25, SAM 15
SET 4 | SAM 25, UTC 15
SET 5 | UTC 15, SAM 7
 
UTC showcased a highly powerful and efficient offense, in addition to a stellar defensive performance on Monday. The squad recorded 61 kills at a .215% attack percentage, the highest hit percentage since the same number in a win over Furman on February 22. In addition, Chattanooga recorded 102 digs, the most in a match since November 14, 2015, with five players reaching double digits.
 
Maia Rackel (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) and Mikaela Gauthreaux combined for 35 kills at a .335% clip, finishing with 21 kills (.241%) and 14 kills (.429%), respectively. Gauthreaux finished with a season-high in kills and fell just one kill shy of tying a career high in her final match inside Macllelan Gym.
 
In addition to Rackel and Gauthreaux, Gylian Finch (Mount Morris, Ill.) reached double digit kills for the eighth time this season after posting 11 in the victory. Finch notched a kill-dig double-double for the third time this season behind 12 digs.
 
Tamia Hall (Atlanta, Ga.) continued to break out as an offensive threat and finished with five crucial kills, two in the fifth set, at a .143% percentage. Kate Neill (Plymouth, Minn.) added eight kills at a .292% percentage while also adding a block assist.
 
Brenna Everingham (Noblesville, Ind.) provided a career defensive effort as the starting libero, finishing with a match and career-high 34 digs, 19 of which came over the final two sets. Makenzie Jordan (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) and Emma Perkins (Rossville, Tenn.) added to the team's incredible defensive effort, recording 17 and 11 digs as defensive specialists.
                              
Sophia Bossong (Murfressboro, Tenn.) dished out 36 assists and completed her seventh assist-dig double-double of the season and career with 11 digs. Bailey Steger (Half Moon Bay, Calif.) entered the match mid-way through the fourth set and finished with 13 assists with 10 of the assists coming in the deciding fifth set.

UP NEXT
Chattanooga (6-10, 4-10 SoCon) closes out the 2020-21 season next weekend on the road in Johnson City, Tenn., against in-state and conference rival ETSU on Sunday and Monday. Match coverage links will be made available on the schedule page leading up to first serve.
 
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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