The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision to the Samford Bulldogs on the road in Birmingham, Ala., Friday night. Chattanooga claimed the first set with a close 25-23 win, but sets two, three and four were taken 26-24, 25-14 and 25-19 by the Bulldogs.
Despite downing Samford 3-0 at Maclellan Gym earlier in the season and getting off to a 1-0 set lead Friday night, UTC was unable to pull off another upset of the SoCon powerhouse.
Chattanooga took its fourth straight set of 2013 with a two-point win in the first set. Freshman Allie Davenport (Tyrone, Ga.) got the scoring started with a kill to put the Mocs up 2-0 after an attacking error put UTC on top. Chattanooga went on to record a match-best .393 hitting percentage and totaled 14 kills in the set.
Junior Kasey Talley (Boiling Springs, S.C.) topped the stats page with 10 kills and only two errors to hit a team-best .444 average. The junior also offered up 11 serves without an error. Freshman Anne Backmann (Lincoln, Neb.) led the Mocs with 27 assists and sophomore Briana Reid (Houston, Texas) finished the night with eight kills.
Samford matches its 17 kills from the first set in the second set to down UTC by two in extras. The Bulldogs reached 26 points by holding Chattanooga to a match-worst four kills. The Mocs didn’t help their own cause by committing four errors to place their hitting percentage at .000 in the set.
The third set of the match was Samford’s largest margin win with 11 points standing between the ‘Dogs and Mocs. Samford hit .333 and followed its back-to-back 17 kill performances with 16 kills in the frame. Michaela Reesor led Samford with 20 kills and totaled 20.0 points on the night. Reesor and the Bulldogs went on to claim the match 3-1 and the fourth set by six points.
The Mocs defense was led by junior Melissa Green (Boca Raton, Fla.) as the defensive specialist recorded 15 digs on 22 flawless receptions. Talley, sophomore Lauren Gainer (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Bachmann each recorded four blocks.
The Mocs are back in action at Maclellan Gym Sunday at 2 p.m. as they take on the Davidson Wildcats for the final time this season. Live streaming video of the match is available with a subscription to Mocs Vision. Live stats are available free through GoMocs.com. Links to both options for viewing the game are available on the Mocs volleyball schedule page.