HUNTSVILLE, Ala. --- UTC volleyball is prepped to close out what has been a three-match road trip on Tuesday, as the Mocs travel to Huntsville, Alabama, to take on Alabama A&M.
Coming off two road SoCon victories this past weekend over ETSU and UNCG, the Mocs (13-5, 2-2 SoCon) now hit the road for one last non-conference clash against the Bulldogs (1-15, 0-3 SWAC). Tuesday's match against A&M is set to be played at 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT) at T.M. Elmore Gym, and only live stats will be available to fans not in attendance.
MATCH CENTRAL
Tuesday, October 3 | at Alabama A&M | 7:00 p.m. ET
Coverage Links: Live Stats
SERIES HISTORY
Alabama A&M: 6-1
INSIDE THE SERIES
The Mocs currently hold a hefty 6-1 advantage in the team's all-time series against the Bulldogs, having won their previous six matchups with Alabama A&M. This marks only the second time the Mocs are being hosted by A&M, with the last time coming in 2011 when UTC came away with a 3-0 victory in hostile territory. The last time Alabama A&M defeated the Mocs? You'd have to look all the way back to the 1982 season, in which the teams met for the very first time 41 years ago. Following the match, the Mocs and Bulldogs wouldn't meet for a second time until the year 2001 nearly 20 years later.
TORBETT APPROACHES HISTORY
In her 30th season as an NCAA volleyball coach, Julie Torbett approaches history as she now sits just two wins away from her 500th victory with a career record of 498-425. Of her 30 seasons, 27 of them have come with NCAA Division I programs including her two years as Director of Volleyball at UTC.
VARYING THE ATTACK
A season ago, the 2022 Mocs saw the team's offense rely heavily upon now graduated outside hitter Natalie Tyson, who accounted for 470 of UTC's 1,557 kills on the year (30 percent of the team's kill count). This season, however, the Mocs have been able to generate offense through a three-headed monster upfront in Morgan Romano, Gylian Finch and Chard'e Vanzandt. All three Mocs currently have over 150 kills in 2023 already, with Romano (255) Finch (236) and Vanzandt (159) accounting for 74 percent of UTC's kills this season. Depending on how the latter half of the season goes for Chattanooga, this could end up marking the first time since 2019 that three Mocs finish above 200 kills in the same season, as well as the first time since 2015 that three Mocs each break 300 kills in the same season as well.
ONE OF THE NATION'S BEST
Outside hitter Morgan Romano's impressive resume goes beyond her All-American status and UTC team-leading kill total this season, as the Oviedo, Florida, native leads the entire nation on the active career kills leaderboard across all levels of collegiate volleyball. She currently stands at 1,837 career kills, leading the likes of USC's Skylar Fields (1,798), Arkansas' Jillian Gillen (1,773) and Houston's Abbie Jackson (1,748).
CAN I DIG IT? YES YOU CAN
With a digs per set average of 17.2 as a team, UTC currently ranks 11th in the entire NCAA in the category while also leading the Southern Conference. Leading the charge for the Mocs is junior libero Paige Gallentine, who currently averages 4.87 digs per set. Her digs per set average ranks first in the SoCon and 30th in the NCAA. Gallentine is on pace to lead the team in digs for the fourth consecutive season, and currently ranks fifth all-time in program history.
50 SEASONS OF CHATTANOOGA VOLLEYBALL
The 2023 season for the Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team marks a major landmark for the program and the university, as UTC volleyball officially celebrates its 50th season of competition as a university sponsored athletic program. Following the adoption of the Title IX legislation back in 1972, UTC added women's basketball, tennis, and volleyball programs to its roster of athletic teams, bringing on five decades of history for each of the teams. UTC volleyball will be holding a celebration of the team's 50 seasons of history during the team's pair of home matches October 6 and 7 during Homecoming Weekend.
CAREER MILESTONE WATCH
- Paige Gallentine now sits at 1,781 career digs. Ranking fourth all-time, she now needs just 277 to tie Kylie Hunter (1990-93) at 2,058 to enter the program's top three in career digs. She is also 219 from becoming the fourth Moc to record 2,000 digs in her career.
- Gallentine is also three matches from her 100th career appearance for the Mocs.
- Other Mocs closing in on their 100th career match are Kate Neill (five away) and Sophia Bossong (13 away). Chard'e Vanzandt needs just three more appearances to log her 50th in Division I (she also played 43 NJCAA matches at Blinn JC, putting her at 90 collegiate matches across all levels of competition).
- Gylian Finch has tallied 1,228 career kills, ranking fourth in program history. She now needs 244 kills to move past Leslee Ball (2004-07) for third all-time.
- Finch's 115 career aces rank sixth in program history. The next highest Moc for her to catch is Kylie Hunter (1990-93) at 118, followed by Heather Gibson (1989-92) at 120.
- Morgan Romano needs two more matches with 10+ kills to hit 100 career matches with double-digit kills.
- Elaine Redman is four digs shy of having 600 in her career, with 359 of her 596 coming while at UTC.
- Marcelle Baez-Carlo is six blocks away from logging her 200th of her career with the Mocs.
- Sophia Bossong is 21 kills away from hitting the 200 mark.
ABOUT ALABAMA A&M
2023 has proven to be a rough outing for the Alabama A&M Bulldogs, as the team enters their midweek matchup against the Mocs with a 1-15 record while riding a 14-match losing streak that dates back to their lone win on August 25 over NC Central. Despite some tough sledding in the month of September, the Bulldogs will be looking to rally behind their home crowd in Huntsville, with their match against UTC marking just their second home match of the season so far. A&M's offense will rely heavily upon the shoulders of Preseason All-SWAC Second Team selection Bailey Duckett, who currently paces the team with 132 kills on the year, averaging 3.0 per set. Duckett, a sophomore, had been an All-SWAC Second Team honoree just a year ago in her freshman campaign after notching a team-high 300 kills in her first season of collegiate volleyball. On the defensive side of things, the Mocs will have to worry about the front row presence of junior blocker Ajanae Cressey, who currently leads Alabama A&M with 35 blocks this year, which ranks eighth in the SWAC when it comes to total blocks. The Bulldogs are coached by Rose Magers-Powell, who has served as head coach for Alabama A&M's volleyball program since 2014.
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