After falling in back-to-back matches at home for the first time since 2014, the Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team rebounded with a convincing 3-0 (25-23, 28-26, 25-18) sweep over UNCG in Maclellan Gymnasium on Saturday night.
Following the win, Chattanooga improves to 8-8 overall and 1-1 in the SoCon this season while UNCG falls to 8-6, 1-1 in the conference.
The Mocs rebounded almost perfectly after suffering a tough five-set loss to the hands of Western Carolina just a night ago.
“Our conference is probably as strong as it’s ever been and that’s a credit to the coaches,” said head coach Travis Filar. “Every match is going to come down to the team that comes out the most prepared and we didn’t do that last night.
“We challenged our kids and I’m really proud of their response. It was a great win against a really good UNCG team.”
Chattanooga grinded out a first set win after totaling 18 kills on a .130 percentage while collecting 22 digs and a block. The trend continued in the second set as the Mocs held UNCG to a .067 attacking percentage and out-blocked the Spartans 3.0 to 1.0. The third and final set saw the Mocs hit at an impressive .286 percentage and convert a side-out percentage of 72%.
Ally Ford led the way with a match-high 13 kills on a .194 percentage while Emily Plumlee finished with 11 kills at an efficient .478 clip and totaled 3.0 blocks. Eden Murray chipped in with seven kills and 3.0 blocks while Miranda Elpers added six kills with four coming in the opening set. Lauren Greenspoon directed the offense with 37 of the team’s 41 assists.
Defensively, Megan Kaufman once again paced the Mocs in digs with 23 in just three sets as Greenspoon completed a double-double by adding 12 digs to her assists total. Bailey Clemons totaled nine digs in the win.
“It’s going to be a dog fight all conference season. We’re excited to be 1-1 after the weekend,” added Filar.
The Mocs continue Southern Conference action beginning Friday in Charleston, S.C., against The Citadel at 6 p.m. before traveling to Charleston, S.C., on Saturday for a 7 p.m. matchup at Furman. Friday’s match will be broadcasted LIVE on ESPN3 while Saturday’s LIVE broadcast will be courtesy of Furman Athletics and the SoCon Digital Network.
Match Stats & Notes
- Megan Kaufman finished with 23 digs … totaled 65 digs in eight sets over the weekend (8.13 d/s) … now with 355 digs this season.
- Emily Plumlee totaled 11 kills at a .478 percentage … 11 kills were a career-high for a three-set match … 92 kills on a team-best .273 percentage this season.
- Lauren Greenspoon dished out 37 assists in just three sets … most in three-sets for her since 2015 … 498 assists and 10.60 per set average is tops in the Southern Conference.
Chattanooga 3, UNCG 0
1st Set | UTC 25, UNCG 23
After falling last night to WCU, the Mocs wanted to come out and set the tone early, but those plans were halted by UNCG. The Spartans opened the match on a 9-4 run and forced Chattanooga into a timeout. UNCG kept the foot on the gas and extended a 17-11 lead before UTC called for their final break of the set. The Mocs responded out of that timeout with fury, taking eight of the next nine points to pull ahead 19-18. With the score knotted 20-20, Ally Ford laid down three-straight kills before three-straight from UNCG tied things back up at 23-23. Ford and Eden Murray claimed the set with back-to-back kills, 25-23, to give the Mocs a 1-0 lead.
2nd Set | UTC 28, UNCG 26
The second set proved to be a back-and-forth battle with nine ties and six lead changes. Like the first set, Chattanooga found themselves in an early hole by trailing 10-7 then eventually 14-11 before rattling off four-straight to take a 15-14 lead and forcing UNCG into a timeout. After a kill from Emily Plumlee landed UTC on set point at 24-22, the Spartans forced three-straight Chattanooga errors to re-gain the lead 25-24 and give themselves a set point opportunity. The Mocs forced a pair of errors to take back the set point 26-25 before UNCG laid down a kill to tie things at 26-all. Two-straight attacking errors from the visitors gave UTC a 28-26 set win and a 2-0 lead in the match at the break.
3rd Set | UTC 25, UNCG 18
Looking to complete their first sweep since Sept. 9, the Mocs came out in the third set on fire, scoring the first five points and nine of the first 12. With the 9-3 lead, UTC went point-for-point after a Dani Szczepanski kill forced UNCG into a timeout with the score in favor of the Mocs 12-6. The Spartans would rally out of the timeout to pull within three at 15-12 and within two at 17-15 before Chattanooga pulled away. The Mocs scored eight of the final 11 points to claim a 25-18 set win and completed the 3-0 sweep.