CHATTANOOGA --- The Chattanooga indoor volleyball team is now less than one week away from playing in its annual Blue-Gold Scrimmage on August 22, marking the first of many matches awaiting the Mocs in Maclellan in 2024.
As we continue to countdown the days until the team's official season-opening match against Southern Illinois on August 30, we also continue our preseason preview series highlighting several of the Mocs' position groups. Today we focus on the defensive specialist and libero group, which features faces new and old that will hold down the defensive backline for UTC this year.
Chattanooga has led the Southern Conference in team digs in three of the past four seasons, thanks in large part to having one of the conference's best defensive players on its roster (we'll talk about her shortly). The Mocs have brought back three of the team's four defensive specialists/liberos from a season ago, having only lost senior captain Makenzie Jordan due to graduation. This makes the group the most tenured of UTC's position rooms heading into 2024, with nearly half of Chattanooga's returning players coming at the DS position.
The Mocs return one of the Southern Conference's best liberos in Paige Gallentine, who is coming off yet another season in which she led the league and team in total digs (624) while snatching up All-SoCon honors to wrap up the year. Gallentine's track record spans the previous four seasons for UTC, having been an integral cog in the team's defensive success. Not only that, but Gallentine's serving adds a crucial piece to the Chattanooga offense, as the Fenton, Michigan, native also led the Mocs in service aces (42) in 2023.
While it's always nice to be able to bring back such a massive piece as the Mocs go trophy hunting in 2024, Gallentine officially enters her final year of NCAA eligibility, which opens the door for a new libero to step up for the Mocs in 2025 and beyond.
"The defensive specialist role is very much a rep type of role where they need to get a lot of repetitions," head coach Julie Torbett Thomas remarked. "A new hitter could come in and hit the ground running fairly easily, whereas those roles rely much more on having an understudy that you coach up to eventually take over the reins. Right now, we're looking at Caiti (Barthel) to be that understudy, which is why we brought her in and gave her some solid playing time last year."
Having appeared in 30 total matches for the Mocs as a freshman last year, Barthel has her sights set on being named heir apparent to Gallentine's primary libero role with the team. If you look at Barthel's 2023 stats, it's easy to see that the talent is there, with Barthel having finished with 230 digs in her very first year of collegiate volleyball. Barthel's dig total sits as the most digs recorded in a single season by a UTC freshman since 2020. And who was the 2020 freshman that happened to edge out Barthel? Paige Gallentine.
Gallentine and Barthel's relationship runs much deeper than your typical mentor and mentee, as the pair have become very close friends off the court. Their friendship can even be seen on the court before matches, with the duo always making sure to do their secret handshake before Gallentine checks in at the libero position at the start of the match. For Barthel and the rest of the underclassmen in the position group, you really couldn't find a better person to learn from than Gallentine.
"Paige has been one of the best liberos in the conference for the last four years," Torbett Thomas said. "Her playing her fifth year with us instead of going somewhere else is going to be key for that position group to be able to gain more ground and be ready to take the baton once she leaves."
Also returning for the Mocs is senior Chandler Alter, who provides yet another senior leadership voice on the team. Alter is currently sitting as one of just three UTC players that have been with the Mocs longer than head coach Julie Torbett Thomas (the other two being Gallentine and Marcelle Baez-Carlo), with Alter's first season with the team coming in 2021.
To round out the defensive specialist group, Torbett Thomas was able to sign a pair of rising freshmen to the 2024 squad in Finley Hilliard and Cansu Kornosor. The pair couldn't have had a more different upbringing with Hilliard having played at Soddy Daisy High School just 20 minutes removed from the UTC campus, while Kornosor comes to the Mocs from Bursa, Turkey.
Despite their differences, these two freshmen bring impressive resumes with them to the collegiate level, and while their number may not be called to serve as the primary libero this season with someone like Gallentine leading the charge, it can never hurt for them to soak up some knowledge from one of the league's best.
"Internally for people like Finley (Hilliard) and Cansu (Kornosor), it should be just as much Paige helping to train them as it is me," Torbett Thomas added. "They can now watch her and see how she moves and how she reads. When you have someone coming in as a freshman, it means so much to be able to have a leader that can model what we want out of the team."
Gallentine is all about setting the foundation for UTC volleyball's future, but that doesn't mean she's not focused on the here and now. Ever since arriving in Chattanooga in 2020, Gallentine has wanted her legacy to include trophies. As she heads into year five, that goal hasn't changed.
We sat down with Gallentine ahead of her final season with the Mocs.
What does it mean to you to be able to have one more year here at Chattanooga for both indoor and beach volleyball?
Gallentine: "I love volleyball, so being able to have one more year is just great. Being able to extend my athletic career for as long as I can, I'll obviously take what I can get. After having hip surgery and missing a season of beach, just going through all of that, to be able to then get an extra year feels like it washes away all of that bad taste like it didn't even happen. I'm older and can now extend the skill that I have now to my teammates for one more season. It's just such a great opportunity that I'd never pass up."
You already have had such an illustrious career here at Chattanooga, but is there anything that you've left unaccomplished that you'd like to do before you close out your time as a Moc?
Gallentine: "Obviously I'd love to be able to win a Southern Conference title. I think we could definitely do it this year and it'd just be amazing to be able to do it in my last year of volleyball. A goal of mine since I've been here is to also get Libero of the Year, so maybe this extra year opens the door for me to finally be able to do that. It's not just an award that's based off what I do, despite what some people might think, you also need your whole team to be successful there with you. You can't be Player of the Year without your teammates, you can't be Setter of the Year without your teammates, you can't be Libero of the Year without your teammates. That's why my goal for this year is to get a Southern Conference title and win Libero of the Year, because in my mind both of those things would be team accolades that we can all celebrate."
What's your mindset going into this season as you take on a senior leadership role with this team?
Gallentine: "In the spring when it was just me, Chandler and Caiti, we kind of bonded and made sure that everyone in our position likes each other and gets along really well. We do everything together and in practice we push to make each other better. That is what people know our DS group to be; we love each other. We all know our role and we all work hard to fill the role that we each have. Being a returner, a captain and a fifth year, it's nice to have those younger girls come in and be able to show them what we've built as the three that are returning from last year. I'm super excited for Finley and Cansu to be here and not only for us to show them what we already have, but for them to come in and add whatever they bring, add to practices, add to games."
What has it been like to get accustomed to so many new faces on this year's team?
Gallentine: "It's very different. I haven't had this many new girls come in before, so it's been fun getting to know all of them and seeing how excited they all are to play. They're all so excited and they all think we can reach that Southern Conference title as well, which is awesome to see that they also have those lofty goals like I do coming in. They all just seem like great girls. Seeing the skills that they bring just gets me even more excited for the season to start. Like I said, it's been different but it's been great."
How would you say you've changed as a volleyball player and as a person from your freshman year to now?
Gallentine: "I would say that my freshman year and sophomore year I experienced a lot of things and I went through a lot of things that I wasn't expecting coming into college. Once I had gone through those things and had really reflected and understood why they happened, I've really learned and changed the way I do things whether that be on the court or off it. I'm obviously a captain this year and I've never been a captain, and I've struggled with having a voice on teams in the past so now having that voice and having gone through what I have gone through, it makes me feel confident that if someone else on this team was going through something that I could be there for them and have the knowledge to direct them on the right path. I've just learned a lot, and not while not everything I've learned from has been great, I now understand them and why they happened. They've completely changed me as a player and as a person. I'm grateful for them."
What would you say is the biggest strength of this year's team going into the 2024 season?
Gallentine: "Probably the depth that we have. We have 21 girls, eight pin hitters, four middles, and I just haven't been on a team where we have that many girls and they're all playing at the same level. They're really all so good. I think that's going to be really big for us because if one girl is struggling or is hurt, we can throw another girl in that'll be just as good as her. You're as strong as your weakest link, and if our weakest link is amazing, then we're set."
Outside of pursuing a SoCon title and Libero of the Year, is there anything else you're hoping to accomplish over your last year of college volleyball, volleyball related or not?
Gallentine: "Outside of volleyball, I'd probably say that completing my master's degree is my main goal. I have had a goal of playing professionally, which is up in the air at the moment. I'm old and I'm tired, so I don't know if I can play for that much longer, but that is still something I'm interested in. I just don't know if that'll continue to be a goal of mine as this season goes on. I don't really have any aspirations to end up anywhere in particular, I want to go where I'm supposed to be. If that's Chattanooga then I stay, if not then I'll look to move. Right now, I'm just finishing volleyball, finishing my master's, and then we'll see what new goals I'll have by then."
2024 Defensive Specialist/Libero Group
Letterwinners Returning/Lost (3/1): Paige Gallentine, Chandler Alter, Caiti Barthel | Makenzie Jordan
Freshman Additions (2): Finley Hilliard (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.), Cansu Kornosor (Bursa, Turkey)
Transfer Portal Additions (0)
NOTABLES
- The Mocs have led the Southern Conference in total digs in three of the past four seasons, with UTC's 2023 total clocking in at 2,170 total digs (17.79 digs/set).
- Paige Gallentine has led the Mocs in digs in every single season she has played for Chattanooga. She currently sits at 2,069 career digs heading into the new season.
- With 317 more digs, Gallentine will officially tie Paula Passmore (2009-12) for second all-time in program history when it comes to career digs. Lara Newberry (2005-08) is UTC's all-time leader in digs with 3,176, a total that also ranks as the most in a career across the entire NCAA.
- Gallentine is also the program recordholder for total SoCon Player of the Week awards won over a career, with the Fenton, Michigan, native having been SoCon DPOTW seven times for the Mocs.
- Sophomore Caiti Barthel finished her rookie campaign in 2023 with 230 total digs, the most digs in a single season by a Mocs freshman since 2020.
- Local prep standout Finley Hilliard is one of two newcomers to the DS group, with Hilliard having been a multi-time All-District honoree with over 1,000 career digs while playing at Soddy Daisy High School.
- Hilliard is accompanied by fellow freshman newcomer Cansu Kornosor who joins the Mocs from Bursa, Turkey. Kornosor has playing experience across the Turkish Women's 2nd League, having played with Semt77 Yalovaspor and Sariyer Belediyesi.
- After an NCAA rule change this offseason, teams will now be allowed to designate two libero players for each set. However, only one libero is allowed on the court at a time and is only allowed to serve in one position. Coaches will have the discretion to determine whether or not to use two liberos.
SEASON-OPENING TOURNEY IN HUNTSVILLE
Chattanooga volleyball's regular season is set to get underway August 30-September 1 with the Mocs traveling to Huntsville, Alabama, for the Betty K. White Invitational (hosted by Alabama A&M). The Mocs will open their regular season at 7 p.m. ET on August 30 by taking on Southern Illinois, before playing in a pair of neutral site contests against Oral Roberts and Idaho on August 31. UTC closes out its opening weekend of action on Sunday, September 1 by battling with tournament host Alabama A&M at 1 p.m. ET.
THE MOCS AT HOME
Fans will be able to get their first taste of 2024 Chattanooga volleyball action on August 22 with the playing of the team's annual Blue-Gold Scrimmage, set to start at 5 p.m. ET in Maclellan Gymnasium. August 24 will provide another opportunity for fans to catch some preseason action for UTC, as the Mocs are set to host Alabama Huntsville at Maclellan for an exhibition match, time to be announced. The Mocs will then host the team's annual Chattanooga Classic tournament September 6-7 at the Mac with fans having three chances to catch the Mocs in their home-opening weekend. All matches this season are free and open to the public.
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