Chattanooga volleyball concluded its regular season on Saturday, with the Mocs dropping a 3-0 result to the ETSU Buccaneers on the road.
The Mocs struggled to find their footing in the match, as the Bucs ultimately out-hit UTC .306 to .130 in the sweep victory by East Tennessee State. With the loss, Chattanooga’s regular season ends with the Mocs holding a record of 17-14 (7-9 SoCon) to finished as the league’s No. 7 seed heading into the conference tournament.
Chattanooga put together a strong start to the match, building up an 11-7 lead over the Bucs.
However, ETSU would respond in the latter half of the frame, flipping the script on the Mocs before ultimately taking the set 25-20.
The Buccaneers would then run away with the second frame, downing the Mocs 25-14 to quickly put UTC in a 2-0 hole heading into the third.
Throwing everything that they had at ETSU, the Mocs hung tight with the Buccaneers right up until the end of the frame, when a red card call on Chattanooga sparked a 5-1 scoring run by East Tennessee State to close out the night. With a third set score of 25-22, the Bucs not only clinched the sweep over the Mocs but the No. 3 seed in the SoCon Tournament.
Chard’e Vanzandt and Kynli Kirkendoll were standout performers for the Mocs, as Vanzandt finished the match with a team-high 12 kills with Kirkendoll right behind her at nine kills (on a .600 hitting percentage). Kirkendoll also added a team-high six blocks to her stat line.
Paige Gallentine was the lone Moc to reach double-digit digs, recording 21 to string together her fifth-straight match with 20+. Rounding out the UTC lineup was Elaine Redman, who led the team with 29 total assists.
UP NEXT
With the regular season now in the books, the Mocs are officially locked into the No. 7 seed in the Southern Conference Tournament. This means that Chattanooga will have a date with No. 2 seed Wofford in the Southern Conference Quarterfinals, set to take place Friday, November 22 in the Terriers’ home gym in Spartanburg, South Carolina. UTC’s quarterfinal match is scheduled for a 4:30 p.m. ET start time, with that being subject to change depending on the length of matches prior. Fans can follow the match on ESPN+.