SPARTANBURG (November 17, 2025) – The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team will head into this week's Southern Conference Tournament featuring a pair of Southern Conference Player of the Week award winners after
Gracie Rose (offensive) and
Caiti Barthel (defensive) earned the league's weekly honor on Monday.
Caiti Barthel – SoCon Defensive Player of the Week
Barthel, a junior libero, earns the SoCon Defensive Player of the Week award for the second time this season (October 6) and second time in her three-year UTC career. She becomes the first Moc to win two or more SoCon DPOTW honors in a single season since
Paige Gallentine in 2022.
After helping lead Chattanooga (16-12) to wins over The Citadel and Furman, Barthel finished the week with a team-high 40 digs (5.71/set) while adding five assists over the two matches. She recorded 24 digs in just three sets on Friday against the Bulldogs before concluding the weekend with 16 during a 3-1 win over Furman.
Barthel ended the season as the SoCon's total digs leader (515) while ranking second in digs per set (4.81), becoming the second-straight Moc (Gallentine) to finish the regular season as the league's top dig collector. Amongst the NCAA Division I ranks this season, Barthel's total digs and digs per set numbers rank 18
th and 22
nd, respectively.
Gracie Rose – SoCon Offensive Player of the Week
Rose, a sophomore outside hitter, collects the SoCon Offensive Player of the Week award for the first time in her short two-year collegiate career. The SoCon OPOTW award is the first for a Moc this season and extends the program's streak to five-straight seasons with at least one OPOTW representative.
Rose anchored the Chattanooga offense during its regular-season ending wins over The Citadel and Furman last weekend, finishing the pair of matches with a team-high 27 kills at an efficient .273 hitting percentage. She posted 13 kills (.321) against the Bulldogs on Friday and 14 kills (.237) against the Paladins on Saturday.
For the season, Rose ranks second on the team in total kills (261) and kills per set (2.81) while totaling a .174 attack percentage, 67 digs, 20.0 total blocks and accounting for 272.0 points. Her season total kills mark ranks 10
th amongst the SoCon leaders while her kills per set total is 11
th best in the league.
Up Next
Chattanooga heads to the Southern Conference Tournament this weekend as the No. 4 seed and will face No. 5 UNCG (16-11) in the quarterfinal round on Friday morning at 10:30 a.m. (ET) on ESPN+. This year's championships are held in Asheville, N.C., inside the Harrah's Cherokee Center. All match links, when available, are located on the schedule page.
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