Courtesy: GoMocs.com

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Boxscore

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Senior middle blocker Leslee Ball (Sycamore, Ill.) pounded  a match-high 24 kills and freshman setter Bailee Chastain (Signal Mountain, Tenn.) recorded a match-high 56 assists to lead Chattanooga (15-11, 10-3) to a 3-1 victory over Georgia Southern (8-17, 5-8) Saturday afternoon at Maclellan Gym. The Lady Mocs defeated the Eagles 30-19, 24-30, 30-23 and 31-29 to collect their tenth Southern Conference victory of the season, equaling last season’s mark.

“Georgia Southern is a very scrappy and great blocking team and we somehow found a way to win” said head coach Lisa Rhodes. “I’m very pleased with the way we stepped up our play today”.

Chattanooga’s play was strong from the opening, as UTC pulled out to a 16-9 lead behind five kills from Ball in the first game before Georgia Southern narrowed the gap to 18-12. With the score 23-14, the Eagles made their run with four straight points to pull to within 23-18 but would get no closer as the Lady Mocs slammed the door on Game 1, finishing the set with a 7-1 run for a 30-19 victory.

In Game 2, the Eagles and Lady Mocs battled to through five ties early on to make the score 9-9 and another five later in the game to knot the score at 21-21. Following back-to-back kills by Ball to make the score 23-21, Georgia Southern took control of the game with a 9-0 run that brought the Eagles to game point, 29-23 before a kill by senior right side hitter Gorana Bacic put the game away, 30-24 to tie the match at 1-1.

The third game was an evenly matched contest until midway through when Chattanooga, trailing 14-13, put together a dominating 9-1 run, fueled by four kills from sophomore outside hitter Ashley Yeager (Parker, Colo.), to go ahead 22-15. From there, the Lady Mocs salted away the game for a 30-23 victory and 2-1 match lead.

Georgia Southern came back with a vengeance in Game 4, jumping out to a 12-4 lead behind six kills from junior outside hitter Christy Dowd. With the score 13-6, Chattanooga put together their own run, to the tune of seven straight points to tie the game at 13-13. From there, it was a back-and-forth affair, with the two teams deadlocking eight more times before seeing the score settle at 24-24.

The Lady Mocs then took a two point advantage, 26-24, on back-to-back points before extending to a 28-25 lead by capitalizing on GSU miscues. Trailing 29-27, the Eagles rallied to tie the game at 29-29 before a kill by senior middle blocker Julianna Martinez (Austin, Texas) and a Georgia Southern error gave the Lady Mocs a 31-29 Game 4 win and a 3-1 match victory.

Dowd led the way offensively for the Eagles with a team-high 21 kills to go along with 11 digs and was joined by Bacic with 17 kills and six blocks. Junior setter Mae Chabra setup up the offense with 46 assists while senior outside hitter Bailey Coleman led the defense with a match-high 29 digs and junior outside hitter Bianca Julio contributed 11 digs. Freshman middle hitter Sara Gildersleeve finished with five blocks on the day.

For the Lady Mocs, in addition to her match-high 24 kills, Ball contributed 13 digs and four blocks while Chastain added nine digs. Junior libero Lara Newberry (Chattanooga, Tenn.) led the defense with 26 digs and was joined by senior outside hitter Jamie Engel (Troy, Ill.) with 18 digs and three blocks. Martinez added 13 kills while freshman outside hitter Aurore Kullak (Beloeil, Belgium) and senior outside hitter Kelsey Amundson (Houston, Texas) each finished with 14 digs. Yeager finished the day with 11 kills to round out the offensive attack.

“I am extremely happy with the win we got today” said Rhodes. “I’m very proud of the girls for finding a way to finish, especially in that fourth game. Bailee Chastain is doing a great job of running the offense for us, coming into a hard situation and this performance today is a good sign for us”.

The Lady Mocs will be back in action on Tuesday, October 30 when they travel to Western Carolina. First serve is set for 7 p.m.

Notes

With 56 assists, this is the fifth match out of seven that Bailee Chastain has posted 49 or more assists ... only one has been a five set match.