The Chattanooga Mocs’ indoor volleyball team will be the first of three Chattanooga programs to face the ETSU Buccaneers this week. The Mocs and Bucs begin rivalry week Brooks Gym on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
MATCH CENTRAL
UTC at ETSU | 6 PM | ESPN+ | LIVE STATS
LAST WEEK’S RECAP
Chattanooga (6-13, 2-4) enters the midweek match after splitting a pair of matches vs.
the spring regular season conference champions. The Mocs defeated Samford in a thrilling five-set comeback win on Friday night. On Saturday evening, the Mocs fell to Mercer in three sets.
FINCH CLIMBING UP THE BOOKS
Gylian Finch became the seventh player in program history with 3,000 career attempts. She recorded 42 attempts vs. Samford to surpass that mark. The Signal Mountain, Tenn. native currently sits at 889 career kills. She is 111 away from becoming the 10th player in program history with 1,000. Lastly, Finch has 85 aces in her career. Her mark is 5th among active SoCon players and is 12 away from adding her name to the top-10 list in program history.
MORE MILESTONES
Makenzie Jordan joined Finch and Paige Gallentine as the third Moc with 500-career digs. She sits at 505 after posting 261 at Mississippi State and 244 during her time at UTC.
After surpassing 500 career kills earlier this season, Maia Rackel sits at 698 in her career. She surpassed 200 career digs at the beginning of October and is seven blocks away from 200 in her four-year Mocs career.
BACK-TO-BACK WINS OVER THE BULLDOGS
UTC defeated Samford in back-to-back matches for the first time since the 1999-2000 seasons. Additionally, it’s the first time the Mocs defeated the Bulldogs in back-to-back five-set matches since 1991.
SOCON PRESEASON POLL
ETSU was slated to finish fifth in the Southern Conference Preseason Poll. It is the second time in Coach Jenkins’ three-year career her squad was picked fifth by the coaches. Last season, the Bucs were the preseason favorites, but finished fifth after multiple injuries.
ABOUT ETSU
ETSU is led by Benavia Jenkins who enters her third season with the Bucs. ETSU’s roster consists of nine new players, including four starters. The team enters the week 7-10 and 3-3 in SoCon play. The Bucs defeated Samford in four sets last weekend before falling to the Bears in three. Defensively, Taylor Roberts has taken over the libero duties for the Mocs and averages 4.19 digs per set. Offensively, beach volleyball transfer, Josannah Vazquez leads the team in kills and kills per set with 187 and 3.08, respectfully. The team’s nonconference schedule featured four Power-5 opponents and the team went 1-3 in those contests with a sweep over NC State.
SERIES HISTORY
ETSU leads the all time series 40-32 and has won the last nine matches over the Mocs. The Bucs swept the Mocs in Johnson City in the team’s last match on March 29, 2021.