Mocs Volleyball Team Falls In SoCon Semifinals

  • Saturday, November 22, 2014
The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team saw its postseason come to an end despite a strong showing against Samford, falling 3-2 in the first round of the Southern Conference Championships in Greensboro, N.C.

“Despite the score, I couldn’t be more proud of our team,” Head Coach Travis Filar said.  “They played hard all season and finished the season strong.  The leadership was amazing and the team works hard.  We were playing our best volleyball, but sadly it was just two points short.”

The Mocs fell 25-16 in the first set, but a strong 30-28 second set allowed UTC to overcome the Bulldogs in the frame to take a 1-1 tie to the break.  Samford claimed the third set 25-20 and Chattanooga won the fourth 25-21 to force a deciding fifth set.  However, the Bulldogs outlasted UTC 15-13 to slide by and put an end to the season for Chattanooga.

Sophomore Allie Davenport (Tyrone, Ga.) and junior Sarah Batterton (Colbert, Wash.) each tallied 14 kills to lead the team, as Davenport totaled 18.5 points and Batterton collected 15.5 points.  Batterton led the effort with an outstanding .481 hitting percentage.

On defense, sophomore Nicole Sumida (Hixson, Tenn.) was very effective at the net with nine total blocks, one solo, and senior Melissa Green (Boca Raton, Fla.) saw her name at the top of the stat sheet with 20 digs.  As a side note, Davenport landed four service aces on the night.

“I am proud of the team and the individual efforts.  We had some standouts tonight, but we’re never going to have an attacker or defensive player just stack up lop-sided stats.  We play as a team and want to win as a team.  Allie played really well tonight, and Sarah has really grown as a player this year.  Those two were really go-to players tonight.  And we have so many of those attackers and blockers returning next season.  We are lucky to have such a great veteran team retuning next year.”

After hitting .136 in the first set, Chattanooga stormed back to down 11 kills, led by sophomore Kristy Wieser (Lincoln, Neb.) with four, and the team totaled 3.0 blocks in the frame.  The fourth set was a to-kill effort and the fourth saw UTC hit a match-best .209 and spike a match-best 13 kills.

As a team, the Mocs out-blocked Samford 17.0-12.0, but the effective .292 attacking percentage from the Bulldogs proved to be enough to overcome UTC’s .136 percentage and allowed Samford to out-score Chattanooga 84-71 on the match.

“For us to play at the level we played and compete in our conference like we did this year speaks to the toughness and leadership of this group.  This team was not happy with how they finished last season, and I believe this year sets us up for a great 2015 season.  We have a strong core returning and we are excited for the future.”

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