CHATTANOOGA --- Graduate transfer outside hitter Natalie Tyson recorded her 1,000^th career kill behind a 23-kill performance to help lead the Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team to a 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-10, 25-23) victory over Furman in the Southern Conference opener on Friday evening inside Maclellan Gymnasium.
 
Following the win, Chattanooga opens the league slate with a 1-0 record for the third time in the last five seasons and improves its overall record to 6-9. Furman falls to 0-2 in the SoCon and 4-8 overall after the loss.
 
"I am thrilled to get the first win of the conference season in front of our fans. We were ready and started each set strong," said head coach Julie Torbett.
 
Chattanooga opened the match with a convincing 25-17 win in the first set before seeing the match tied at 1-1 following a 25-22 Furman win in the second. UTC controlled the momentum the rest of the way following a dominating 25-10 win in the third while handling a 25-23 match-clinching decision in the fourth.
 
Tyson, a grad transfer from East Carolina ahead of the season, posted her third 20+ kill performance of the season and seventh of her career after finishing with 23 kills on 53 attacks while committing just four errors to amass a blistering .358 attack percentage. Factoring in 786 kills at ECU, Tyson surpassed 1,000 kills for her career with her 22^nd kill of the match.
 
"The passing was much better which allowed Elaine [Redman] to set Natalie [Tyson] in system. Kate [Neill] was very effective as well. We will have to commit less errors tomorrow against a very good Wofford team to get the same result."
 
Kate Neill followed Tyson on the Mocs kill leader board with 11 while hitting at an extremely effective .304 percentage on 23 total swings. Halle Olson finished with nine to round out the offensive highlights. Offensively as a team, Chattanooga out-attacked Furman in kills (56-36), hitting percentage (.201-.069) and assists (49-32).
 
On the defensive side, Tyson recorded her ninth-straight, kill-dig double-double of the season after tying Paige Gallentine with a team-high 14 digs. Gallentine's 14 digs marked her 12^th-straight match with 14 or more digs this season while notching her 54^th career match with 10 or more.
 
Redman directed the offense with a match-high 42 assists, the second most for the hometown kid this season (52 against Southern Indiana on 9/9). She finished with 10 digs defensively to notch her fourth double-digit dig effort of the year.
 
Aleya Kennedy provided a spark off the bench after joining the starting rotation in the third set. Kennedy finished the match with three kills and a team-high 5.0 blocks which included two solos and three assists. Olson, Neill and Chloe Bryan each finished the contest with three block assists.
 
UP NEXT
Chattanooga hosts Wofford (8-5, 0-1 SoCon) tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 24, at 4 p.m. ET inside Maclellan Gymnasium. The Terriers opened the SoCon season on Friday at ETSU and dropped a 3-1 decision which snapped a seven-match win streak. The match will be LIVE on ESPN+. Admission is FREE.

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