The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team opened play in its annual Chattanooga Classic with a pair of victories, claiming a 3-2 (25-19, 17-25, 22-25, 25-18, 15-8) comeback win over Duquesne in the opener before sweeping Southern Indiana 3-0 (27-25, 25-17, 31-29) in the finale, on Friday inside Maclellan Gymnasium.
"I was very excited to get these wins, I thought the girls played really hard. We had great moments of volleyball, but we have some things to clean up and we know that. It felt good to win today," said head coach Julie Torbett following her home debut at the helm.
"I thought our middles played exceptionally well, Marcelle [Baez-Carlo] and Kate [Neill] especially.
Some good offense and timely blocking. Our outsides, we got them a lot of swings and they played well too."
Following the two wins, Chattanooga has now won its last three matches and four of its last five to improve to 4-5 overall this season. The Mocs will face Miami (OH) tomorrow at 11 a.m. ET in the Chattanooga Classic championship match as the RedHawks also finished the day 2-0.
"Tomorrow is going to be another great match with Miami (Ohio). We saw some good volleyball in here with them today. We're looking forward to swinging away and trying to win this tournament," added Torbett.
Chattanooga carries a highly-successful history in its annual non-conference tournament held inside Maclellan as the program improved to 19-6 in the event since 2014. The Mocs will look to claim its fourth tournament title in that span with tomorrow's matchup.
Chattanooga looked to earn a first-set win for the fifth-straight match but found themselves trailing for much of the frame including facing a 9-4 deficit early. The Screaming Eagles continued to keep distance, not allowing the Mocs to knot the score up until the 20-20 mark when USI was forced into an attacking error.
USI gained the set's first set point opportunities at 24-23 and 25-24 but kills from Halle Olson and Kate Neill halted both chances and tied things up. Consecutive kills from Marcelle Baez-Carlo notched UTC a 27-25 set win and a 1-0 lead in the match.
Both teams traded the second set's first 10 points and wound up tied 5-5 before the Mocs used a 6-1 run to build an 11-6 lead. USI committed five errors during the seven-point stretch to help aid UTC's lead.
The Screaming Eagles rallied on a few different occasions but couldn't cut the deficit to anything less than three with the latest effort coming at 18-15. Chattanooga went on to score seven of the set's final nine points to claim a 25-17 set decision and a 2-0 lead in the match.
Chattanooga entered the third set looking to complete its first three-set sweep of the season and attacked its way to a 9-6 lead behind eight kills. USI immediately responded and flipped the scoreboard to a 14-10 tally in favor of the road team following an 8-1 run.
UTC scored four-straight to tie it at 14-14 before USI quickly pulled back in front 18-15. The Screaming Eagles held set point first at 24-23 but Neill and Tyson combined for back-to-back kills to allow the Mocs their first match point chance.
USI held off UTC's match-point opportunities at 26-25 and 27-26 and created another chance for themselves for a set win at 28-27. A Baez-Carlo kill and a block from Coniah Davis and Lauren Baker quickly made it 29-28 in favor of UTC. Tied 29-29, it was Baez-Carlo again with a kill before a Neill and Davis tandem block gave Chattanooga its first sweep of the season.
The Mocs and the Dukes kicked off the 2022 Chattanooga Classic with a back-and-forth effort as both teams played to a 10-10 tie in the first 20 rallies. The two squads would find themselves locked again at 15-15 before UTC broke the tie for good behind a Olson ace.
Duquesne would get it to within one on one more occasion, 19-18, before Chattanooga took a 1-0 lead in the match behind a 6-1 run to close things out, 25-19. UTC finished the opening frame with a .538 hitting percentage and was led by Natalie Tyson who posted six kills at a .750 clip.
Duquesne responded from the first set loss with nine of the first 10 points in the second set to build a 9-1 lead and forcing UTC into an early timeout. The Mocs rallied back and cut the deficit to two, 13-11, behind an offensive attack that saw six-straight points.
The Dukes thwarted any comeback effort from the home team after responding with a 6-1 run to size the edge to 19-12. The final tally was 25-17 in favor of Duquesne to tie the match 1-1.
It was a strong and physical effort on both sides of the net as the two teams jockeyed to take a 2-1 lead in the match. The set featured 10 ties and a match-high five lead changes and saw the programs tied 19-19 late in the contest.
After a Mocs service error broke the tie, the Dukes picked up the next three points on a pair of service aces and an attacking error from the home team to build a 23-19 advantage. UTC cut it to 23-22 before Duquesne closed things out 25-22 to take the one-set lead in the match.
After falling behind 7-2 in the early stages, Chattanooga scored seven-straight points with the help of a pair of aces and strong play at the net to regain a 9-7 lead. The Mocs opened the lead up to five, 17-12, on a Tyson block before stretching it to seven, 22-15, on a Tyson kill.
UTC forced its third-straight, five-set match with a 25-18 victory that was clinched off back-to-back Chloe Bryan kills. The final seven points scored for the Mocs came via the kill with Tyson, Neill and Bryan all contributing.
Duquesne raced out to a 5-3 lead in the do-or-die fifth set before Chattanooga put things out of reach following a 9-1 sprint that saw the hosts gain a 12-6 advantage. A Bryan kill and a block from Marcelle Baez-Carlo and Elaine Redman capped off the 15-9 set win and 3-2 win in the match.