GREENVILLE, S.C. --- Chattanooga volleyball earned its tenth sweep of the season Saturday afternoon in Greenville, after a dominant performance by the Mocs helped the team secure a 3-0 victory over Furman as things start to heat up in the SoCon standings.
The Mocs (18-11, 6-8 SoCon) were needing a big win prior to the team's final two matches of the 2023 regular season next weekend, and Chattanooga delivered behind a pair of 13-kill performances by Gylian Finch and Morgan Romano to help guide the Mocs past the third-place Paladins (16-9, 7-7 SoCon) in their own gym.
"I was proud of the way we bounced back today and played hard from start to finish," head coach Julie Torbett said. "Everyone contributed and there was a positive vibe on the court. We know how important each match is in conference, so I think the mindset of just playing hard kept us from playing tight today and resulted in another 3-0 sweep."
To open the match things were looking very even between the Mocs and Paladins as the team swapped leads before eventually sitting tied at 10-10. From here UTC turned on the gas, going on a 7-1 run that the Mocs never looked back from in the frame. With the scoreboard reading 25-21, the Mocs were on the board.
Still reeling from the opening set, Furman was looking vulnerable to start the second and UTC wasn't going to waste the opportunity. Chattanooga would start the second set on a 5-0 run that helped give the Mocs a lead that they would hold for the majority of the frame. After back-to-back service aces by Romano that put the Paladins down 14-7, Furman took a timeout.
Following the Furman timeout, the Paladins inched their way back into the match with a flurry of kills, eventually pushing the score to a 25-25 scoreline. Even with Furman having mounted a comeback, the Mocs were able to slam the door shut on the second with kills by Halle Olson, Chard'e Vanzandt and Morgan Romano to take the set 27-25 and push the team's lead up to 2-0.
The entire third set was a battle between the two squads as UTC aimed to get the brooms out once again this season, while Furman fought to avoid dropping their third consecutive match. With the lead swapping hands a multitude of times, the match once again found itself in another late deadlock with the score tied at 23-23.
Once again, the veteran Mocs lineup kept the nerves at bay as a Morgan Romano kill put UTC on match point. Libero Paige Gallentine went on to ice the match the best way she knew how, as she fired home a service ace to clinch the 3-0 sweep over the Paladins to close out Chattanooga's road schedule.
With the team's tenth sweep this year, the Mocs have now logged the most 3-0 victories in a single season since 2015. That 2015 season, UTC ended the year with a whopping 12 sweep wins on the year.
Besides Finch and Romano each finishing with 13 kills, Chattanooga's offense relied heavily upon setter Elaine Redman's 44-assist performance in Greenville. A total of three Mocs ended the match with double-digit digs with Paige Gallentine's 17 leading the pack for UTC (Morgan Romano – 12, Chandler Alter – 11). Chard'e Vanzandt's five blocks in the match led the Mocs, marking the ninth time this year that she's finished with 4+ blocks in a single match.
UP NEXT
With the team's crucial win over Furman, the Mocs will now be looking to end their 2023 regular season on a high note as the tightly packed SoCon standings are set to reach a crescendo next weekend. UTC will first play host to Mercer (13-11, 9-4 SoCon) on Thursday, November 9 before closing out their regular season on Friday, November 10 with a Senior Day matchup against Samford (12-13, 7-6 SoCon). Both matches are set for 6 p.m. ET 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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