CHATTANOOGA --- The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team earned its fourth win in its last five tries after completing a two-match season sweep over UNC Asheville behind a 3-1 (25-22, 25-13, 19-25, 25-14) victory on Wednesday night inside Maclellan Gymnasium.
 
Following the win, Chattanooga improves to 5-6 overall this season and picks up its second win over the Bulldogs in a week. Asheville falls to 3-7 overall and suffered its third-straight loss on Wednesday.
 
Chattanooga limited Asheville to a .171 attacking percentage for the match, the third-lowest total of the season for an opponent, and held them to just 45 kills, the second-least for an opponent in 2022. It was a balanced effort across the board as 14 different Mocs saw action on the floor.
 
"We're happy to win for sure, we went five with them last week, so we have shown some improvement," said head coach Julie Torbett.
 
"We've adjusted our defense a little bit which really helped. We chased some balls down that we weren't getting to before. Offensively, we have some little lulls that we need to tighten up.
 
"But overall, we're definitely very happy to come away with the win."
 
The tightest set of the match happened to be the opener as the two teams were just a week removed from battling in a five-set match. The first set featured 11 ties and a pair of lead changes which eventually led to a 25-23 decision in favor of UTC. Paige Gallentine recorded a whopping 11 digs in the opener to aid the Mocs defense.
 
It was all Chattanooga in the second set after the team held a lead the entire way through following a Kate Neill and Halle Olson block that registered the first point. The Mocs attacked at a blistering .429 percentage with Natalie Tyson (5), Olson (5) and Neill (4) accounting for 14 of the team's 17 kills in the set.
 
Asheville fought off the 3-0 sweep with a crucial 25-19 victory in the must-win third frame. The set was back-and-forth for a lot of the duration with a total of six ties and four lead changes, the most lead flips of the match. UTC was limited a match-low .188 hitting percentage in the set and fell behind in the big category 14-9.
 
Leading 2-1 in the match and looking to put things away, Chattanooga did just that with a dominating 25-14 match-clinching set win. Olson (6) and Chloe Bryan (5) led the offensive attack in kills and helped the Mocs post a .484 attacking percentage.
 
In total, four Mocs reached double figures in kills with Olson (16) pacing the squad ahead of quality performances from Neill (13), Tyson (12) and Bryan (11). All four of the attackers hit north of .275% for the match and accounted for 52 of the team's 62 kills.
 
Gallentine led the team again defensively with 19 digs while Tyson (15) and Olson (10) completed consecutive kill-dig double-doubles against the Bulldogs. Elaine Redman added 14 digs and led the entire match with 41 assists.
 
Chattanooga won the battle at the net and out-blocked Asheville by a 9.0-5.0 count with Neill leading the charge with six block assists. Coniah Davis (two BA), Marcelle Baez-Carlo (three BA), Bryan (two BA) and Olson (four BA) all chipped in with multiple blocking efforts.
 
UP NEXT
Chattanooga (5-6, 0-0 SoCon) will travel to Statesboro, Ga., this weekend to compete in the GATA Challenge hosted by Georgia Southern on Friday and Saturday. UTC kicks off play in the event at Noon ET on Friday against Queens (NC) before taking on St. Francis (PA) at 4 p.m. ET. Match coverage links will be located on the schedule page when available.

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