Chattanooga Mocs volleyball sophomore and libero Paige Gallentine has been named this week's Southern Conference Defensively Player of the Week following a huge performance against UNC Asheville on Wendesday and an all-tournament performance at the GATA Challenge in Statesboro, Ga., this weekend.
Gallentine earns the weekly honor for the first time this season and fourth time overall in her UTC career. She was named the defensive player of the week three times last season to become just the third Moc in program history to achieve the feat.
(Rachel Evans – 1997, Paula Passmore – 2012).
The Fenton, Mich., native finished the weekend with a team-high 107 digs across 18 sets (5.94 per set) and posted 19 or more digs in all four matches. In Friday's action at the GATA Challenge, Gallentine recorded 33 digs against St. Francis before falling the performance up with 27 digs against Queens (NC).
She rounded out the tournament with a match-high 28 digs against Georgia Southern on Saturday to earn GATA Challenge All-Tournament honors. Gallentine has recorded double-digit digs in all but one match this season and has recorded seven matches with 20 or more including the last three and four out of the last five.
She currently leads the Southern Conference in total digs (277) and digs per set (4.62). Gallentine recently surpassed 1,000 career digs during last weekend's Chattanooga Classic and has quickly topped the 1,100 mark, currently sitting with 1,126, less than 100 digs shy of moving into 11th all-time at UTC.
Chattanooga (5-9, 0-0 SoCon) opens Southern Conference play this weekend inside Maclellan Gymnasium with a Friday night contest against Furman and a Saturday tilt against Wofford. Friday's match carries a 5 p.m. ET start time while Saturday's first serve is set for 6 p.m. ET. Both matches will be on ESPN+.