SPARTANBURG, S.C. --- Chattanooga volleyball saw its 2024 season come to an end on Friday in Spartanburg after the Mocs fell to the tournament's No. 2 seed and host Wofford, 3-0.
The Mocs hung with the Terriers across all three sets, but just couldn't quite notch a set in UTC's favor as Wofford played spoiler on Chattanooga's hopes of a Cinderella run.
"First of all, hats off to Wofford," head coach Julie Torbett Thomas said. "I thought they played a really good match and knew exactly what we were going to do. We had to make some adjustments on the fly and really didn't ever get the matchup that we wanted, so that was a little frustrating just having that size differential out there.
"I thought that Chard'e (Vanzandt) was again the best player on the floor, but again it's a team sport. You can have the best hitter on the floor, but you've also gotta have all six on the floor working together, all the time. I think she played her heart out and all season continued to get better. It just wasn't our day today."
Things were back-and-forth to get the match started, as UTC and Wofford traded leads over the opening handful of points. However, a six-point scoring run saw the Terriers take a 14-9 lead over Chattanooga, forcing UTC to take a timeout.
The Mocs would try to close this gap late in the frame, but it ended up being too little, too late with the Terriers taking the opening frame 25-21.
Much like the first set, the second set started off with both teams exchanging blows and leads before Wofford would once again string together a six-point scoring run, giving Wofford a sizeable 20-12 advantage. The Mocs weren't able to close that gap, as the Terriers ended up claiming a 25-16 set win, putting Wofford on the verge of victory.
The Mocs left everything they had left in the tank out on the floor in set three, battling it out with the No. 2 seed all the way until the final point. The third and final frame proved to be one of the tightest of the entire match, with neither team letting up.
Wofford would inch ahead of the Mocs down the back stretch of the third, something that proved crucial to the Terriers ultimately taking the set win. UTC got as close as 23-21 to the Terriers, but would once again finish this short as the Terriers took the final set 25-21.
With that, the Mocs saw their season come to a close, falling to Wofford 3-0.
Chard'e Vanzandt again stood out as arguably the best player on the floor in the match, finishing with a team-high 16 kills. Caiti Barthel finished her day with a team-leading 12 digs, marking the first time this season that she finished as the team leader in digs.
UTC two captains, Paige Gallentine and Elaine Redman, saw their collegiate careers come to a close in Friday's quarterfinal matchup. Gallentine would finish with 11 digs, while Redman notched 28 assists.
The Mocs end 2024 with a record of 17-15 overall, the third-straight winning season for the Mocs since Julie Torbett Thomas took over as the program's head coach.
"When I came here our goal was to win a Southern Conference championship, and that's still the goal," Torbett Thomas said. "We've gotta take that next step, which is to make it to the finals, and we've gotta learn and find a way to believe in ourselves and our program in order to get up there.
"Wofford's done a great job of it, but if you look at their record books it's been a long time coming for them. Chattanooga, we've been there before, but we have to be able to get back to that level. That's my focus with the young girls on this team going into next year."
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