Junior middle blocker Dani Szczepanski picked up where she left off last weekend, tying and recording new career highs in numerous statistical categories during a 3-1 (16-25, 25-14, 25-22, 25-16) win over UNC Asheville on the opening day of the Chattanooga Classic.
Chattanooga improves to 2-2 overall following the win while UNC Asheville drops to an even 2-2 after the loss.
Chattanooga dominated the match after dropping the opening set. They out-totaled their opponents in kills (56-36), hitting percentage (.288-.205), assists (53-32), aces (12-3) and digs (57-49).
Six different Mocs recorded at least six kills during the victory.
Szczepanski finished the match with 16 kills on a blistering .714 hitting percentage while recording five service aces and scoring a total of 22.5 points. She tied her career-high in kills (16) while setting new career marks in aces (5) and points scored (22.5). The .714 hitting percentage is the second highest with at least ten kills during her career in a UTC uniform. (.734, 14 kills in SoCon Championship, 2016.)
Miranda Elpers finished with 12 kills on a .263 attacking percentage while adding seven digs and a solo block on defense. Mikaela Gauthreaux totaled seven kills on a .368 percentage while Emily Plumlee, Jaquelyn Langhaim and Ally Ford all concluded the match with six kills each. Ford tied a career-high with three service aces.
Langhaim and Maddie Halsey directed the offensive attack with 30 and 20 assists, respectively. Megan Kaufman anchored the defense with a team-high 14 digs while Langhaim and Brenna Everingham chipped in with six each.
UTC will continue play in the Chattanooga Classic with a pair of matches tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. (Tennessee State) and 7 p.m. (North Alabama) in Maclellan Gym. Both matches will be streamed LIVE on the SoCon Digital Network. Links can be found on the schedule page.