The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team (10-16, 4-7 SoCon) travels to Birmingham, Ala., to take on SoCon North leading Samford (18-8, 9-2 SoCon) for its final regular season mid-week matchup.
It will be the second meeting of the season between the two teams. The Bulldogs claimed the last match 3-0 to hand Chattanooga just its second loss of the season at Maclellan Gym on Sept. 28. Freshman Sarah Batterton (Colbert, Wash.) was the Mocs offensive leader with eight kills while senior Paula Passmore (Merritt Island, Fla.) led the defensive stand with 15 digs.
UTC has collected three more wins since its match with Samford while the Bulldogs have continued their tear of the SoCon, claiming six wins in its past eight matches. Sophomore Michaela Reesor leads the Bulldogs with 329 kills and a 3.62 kills per set average. Senior Alexis Bauer is the Bulldogs defensive leader with 464 digs, averaging 5.10 per set. Senior Lauren Hutchison stands tall at the net with 69 blocks on the season.
Chattanooga senior Christina Teter (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) paces the Mocs offense with 214 kills on the season, averaging 2.49 kills per set, and freshman Jumilar Alvarado (San Juan, Puerto Rico) follows closely behind with 187 kills and a 2.60 average. As a whole, Chattanooga has recorded 1116 kills on the season and junior Bridget Camacho (Cumming, Ga.) has assisted with 899 of them. The setter is averaging 9.56 assists per set.
Senior Paula Passmore (Merritt Island, Fla.) leads the Chattanooga defense with 588 digs. Her 6.26 digs per set is currently good for second in the NCAA and first in the Southern Conference. Teter leads UTC in the blocking category with 66 total blocks on the season, downing 12 solo blocks and 54 assisted blocks. Freshman Lauren Gainer (Boca Raton, Fla.) has 53 on the season and Batterton has blocked 42 attacks.
The Mocs return to Maclellan Gym Friday at 6 p.m. to take on UNCG. The Friday match will serve as Bone Marrow Donation Awareness night and will be played in honor of the late Eddie Parman, father of senior outside hitter Heather Parman (Ooltewah, Tenn.) and the late Dr. Carolyn Thompson, wife of former UTC chancellor Dr. Roger Brown.
Friday night is also the first opportunity for students to pick up their tickets for the Tennessee basketball game after the match. Each individual will be allowed to pick up his or her ticket, plus one additional, with two valid UTC Mocs Cards.
Saturday's match against Elon will be the Mocs final home match of the regular season and serve as Senior Night. Chattanooga's second matchup of the season against the Phoenix is set to begin at 6 p.m. and will honor seniors Passmore, Teter, Parman and Meagan Ernd (Munster, Ind.).