The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs (10-17, 4-8 SoCon) volleyball team fell 3-1 in Birmingham, Ala., to Samford (18-8, 10-2 SoCon) Tuesday night.
Fresman Julimar Alvarado (San Juan, Puerto Rico) was the Mocs offensive leader with 13 kills while frellow freshman Briana Reid (Houston, Texas) followed right behind with 11 kills. Senior Christina Teter (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) tallied a match-best .294 hitting percentage.
Senior libero Paula Passmore (Merritt Island, Fla.) was solid on defense with 27 digs while defensive specialist Melissa Green had 11 digs.
Along with the sophomore, Reid recorded 10 digs. Teter, freshmen Sarah Batterton (Colbert, Wash.) and Lauren Gainer (Boca Raton, Fla.) blocked two Samford attacks.
Chattanooga jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a 25-22 win in the first set. Samford was only able to muster up a .098 hitting percentage while UTC hit .194. Leading 24-20 near the end of the match, the Bulldogs scored back-to-back points to draw the match within two. A timeout called by Chattanooga head coach Travis Filar iced the Bulldogs service with the set ending on a service error by Samford's Chelsi Carter.
Samford struck back in the second set, taking a 25-20 win and tied the match up before the intermission. Down by seven, Chattanooga put together a three-point run to bring the match within one point, 20-19, but a 5-1 run by the Bulldogs ended the set.
The Mocs hit a match-worst .029 in the third set, falling 25-16. UTC trailed by only one point at mid-match, 16-15, but the Bulldogs pulled away with a 9-1 run to claimed the largest win of the match.
Samford took the match by a three-point margin, 25-22, despite a hard-fought contest from Chattanooga. UTC hit a match-best .282, but the Bulldogs .351 was also a match-best for the host-team.
The final mid-week match of the season for Chattanooga leads UTC into its final homestand of 2012. 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.).