The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball team dropped a heartbreaking 3-2 match to Mercer Saturday evening at Maclellan Gym. After coming back from a 1-0 deficit to take a 2-1 set lead, the Bear downed UTC in the final two frames to take the Southern Conference victory.
“A tough match to lose,” Head Coach Travis Filar said.
“Mercer came ready to play. We knew they were going to be good and they played really well. We didn’t do enough to win tonight.”
Eventually falling 16-25, 25-21, 27-25, 23-25 and 12-15, Chattanooga did not get out on the right foot but surged back in the second set to tie the match going into the locker room. After hitting just .054 in the first, the Mocs hit a set-best .308 and knocked down 14 kills. Kills-leader Kristy Wieser (Lincoln, Neb.) posted four of her 18 kills in the set.
While hitting .169 and Mercer hitting just .102 in the third frame, the Mocs managed to total a set-best 18 kills as the stanza reached extra points before the contest was decided. The Chattanooga defense, which earned 8.0 total blocks, gained three of them in the middle stanza.
Down 2-1, Mercer came back in the fourth to even the match to 2-2. With the score tied eight times and six lead changes, the Bears’ defense proved to be the deciding factor – out-blocking the Mocs in the set. Mercer out-blocked UTC 11.0-8.0 in the match.
The final set saw Chattanooga out-hit .240-.080, with the Mocs having just six kills while committing four errors. Mercer had only two more kills in the frame but totaled two fewer errors.
Chattanooga goes back to work Wednesday in Birmingham, Ala., as it takes on Samford at 7 p.m. The Mocs are on the road Friday andSaturday as they visit Western Carolina and ETSU. Live stats and video will both be available via the volleyball schedule page.