SPARTANBURG, S.C. --- Chattanooga volleyball had a Cinderella moment on Friday night in Spartanburg at the 2023 Southern Conference Tournament, as the No. 7 seeded Mocs toppled No. 2 seed Mercer 3-1 in their quarterfinal matchup to advance to the SoCon Tournament Semifinals.
The Mocs (19-13, 6-10 SoCon) were able to take down a team that has been their kryptonite these past couple of seasons in Mercer (16-12, 12-4 SoCon), as strong all-around team play by the Mocs helped UTC claim just its second win over the Bears in the last 12 matchups.
"This tournament is always something special," head coach Julie Torbett said. "The girls came prepared to win and they believed they could win, which is a big part of what happened tonight. We had a great game plan going against them."
"You see a team three times, it's hard to beat them all three times in a year. Tonight it was our turn, and I'm glad it was."
To open the match the Mocs set the tone right away, specifically behind the service play of grad student Gylian Finch. The Mount Morris, Illinois, native fired home back-to-back aces for the Mocs to give UTC an early 6-5 advantage. Mercer bounced back, however, eventually building up a 15-13 lead over the Mocs as the teams hit the set's media break.
The Mocs would then turn back to Finch, as well as fellow grad student Morgan Romano to fuel the Chattanooga offense. Logging six kills a piece in the opening set, the pair helped power UTC past Mercer 25-23 to take a 1-0 lead to start the match.
Following their narrow loss in the first, Mercer came out firing in the second set jumping out to an 18-6 lead, looking as though they would cruise to a second set win. That wasn't the case though, as UTC proceeded to inch closer to the Bears with the score coming as close as seven points between the two teams. From here the Bears were able to close out the second, taking it 25-18 to level things at 1-1 heading into the match's intermission.
The third set proved to be the most pivotal of the match, with the winner taking a 2-1 advantage and putting one foot into the SoCon Tournament Semifinals. Both teams would treat it as such, with both sides going on runs back and forth before things sat in a 14-14 dead heat. Mercer would go on yet another run, this time building up an 18-14 advantage over the Mocs, but once again UTC had a response.
Fueled by a 7-2 Chattanooga run that included kills by Halle Olson and Morgan Romano, as well as an ace by Paige Gallentine, UTC was looking at a 21-19 lead with the end of set three swiftly approaching. Yet again, the teams exchanged runs leading to the scoreboard reading 24-24. From here on out, set three would be decided by winning back-to-back points.
After being put on their heels early by a Mercer set point at 25-24, UTC proceeded to fight for each and every point that followed, with Chattanooga having a total of four opportunities to clinch the set. The Bears responded each time, tying the score all the way up to 29-29. Finally UTC slammed the door shut, as a pair of back-to-back kills by Olson and Romano sealed set three with a hefty 31-29 scoreline. The Mocs now sat just one away from the victory.
Mercer opened the fourth set desperate as the team's season hung in the balance, as the Bears riddled off a couple of quick points to find themselves up 10-5 on the Mocs. However, the match up until the point had been a game of runs and UTC's next run would come in crunch time. After five consecutive points, set four was tied 10-10, nullifying Mercer's early gap.
Like the rest of the match, both teams traded runs all the way until UTC saw itself trailing 22-20 to the Bears. From here, it was all Chattanooga. Closing out the match on a 5-0 scoring run that was thanks in large part to junior Chard'e Vanzandt, the Mocs would take set four 25-22, toppling the two-seeded Bears and securing Chattanooga's spot in the SoCon Tournament Semifinals.
Four different Mocs finished the night with double-digit kills (Morgan Romano – 16, Chard'e Vanzandt – 13, Gylian Finch – 11, Halle Olson – 11), marking just the second time this season the Mocs have had four players with 10+ kills in the same match. The only other time this season came on August 26, when UTC completed a reverse sweep win over Georgia State on the road.
"Tournament time is always a time for teams to find new hope," Finch said. "Tonight as a team we came out and we had that new hope, we had that grit and we had that fight. We weren't letting them win. We came out saying this was our game and there wasn't any point during that match where we thought we were going to lose."
On the defensive side of the ball, Chard'e Vanzandt put on an absolute masterclass for the Mocs by tying her career-high of six total blocks, shutting down the Mercer attack. Four of those blocks for Vanzandt were solo blocks, the most solo blocks for her this season in a match.
"Honestly what I did was pretty simple," Vanzandt said. "Something me and my teammate Chandler (Alter) say is see ball, get ball. That was something I really wanted to stick to tonight and I think I just did a great job at it."
Elaine Redman continued to put up unreal assist numbers, accounting for 41 on the night, while defensively she was also able to chip in 19 digs to finish with a double-double. Paige Gallentine would end the night with a team-leading 21 digs, while fellow Mocs Caiti Barthel (13) and Morgan Romano (11) also came away with double-digit digs.
The Mocs now wait to learn if they will be playing against #3 Wofford or #6 Western Carolina in Saturday's semifinal match. Regardless of their opponent, UTC's match will take place at 7:30 p.m. ET in Spartanburg and will be available to stream on ESPN+.
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.
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