Volleyball Comes Up Short in Saturday Match Against Western Carolina

Saturday, October 17

Chattanooga, Tenn.

3:00 p.m.

Chattanooga

6-15,1-8SoCon

Western Carolina

7-15,3-6SoCon

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Western Caro.	25	25	25	3
Chattanooga	18	12	21	0

Bailey Burgess and Kynli Kirkendoll going for a team block against Western Carolina

Photo by: Ray Soldano

10/17/2026 5:11:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Chattanooga finished the weekend with a 1-1 record against the Catamounts

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - After taking down the Catamounts the night before for their first SoCon win, the Mocs couldn't deliver the same performance today, falling 3-0 to Western Carolina in Maclellan Gym.

Chattanooga's stout offensive attack from Friday that was clicking on all cylinders, was shut down today as the Blue and Gold hit a season-low .064 in the defeat. The loss drops UTC to 1-8 in SoCon play while Western Carolina moves to 3-6 in the league.

Final Score
Chattanooga 0, Western Carolina 3 (18-25, 12-25, 21-25)

Records
Chattanooga (6-15, 1-8 SoCon)
Western Carolina (7-15, 3-6 SoCon)

Series Notes
Chattanooga drops to 48-51 all-time against Western Carolina… The loss ends a five-match winning streak the Mocs had against the Catamounts that dated back to Nov. 3, 2023… Chattanooga also drops to 26-18 all-time in home matches against WCU… Today was the 99th all-time meeting between the two schools… The most played match in program history.

How it Happened
Western Carolina set the tone early, scoring the first five points of the first set, using three kills to do so. Chattanooga settled in, but struggled to draw much closer as a kill for the Catamounts kept them ahead by five points at 14-9. WCU continued to hold firm with its lead as it took a 20-13 after another kill. An attack error later on from the Catamounts put UTC within four points at 21-17, however that is as close as the Mocs would get as the away side won set one 25-18.

The score was tight in the beginning of the second set as a kill from Sophia Garrido tied the set at six. Immediately afterwards though, WCU went on a 4-0 run to take the lead. Not much later, the Catamounts scored five consecutive points and were all of a sudden up 17-8. Chattanooga couldn't muster a late comeback as Western Carolina went on to win 25-12 with a pair of kills to end the set and go up 2-0.

Needing a win to stay alive, kills from Gracie Rose and Kynli Kirkendoll put the Mocs up 8-6 in the third set. Once again though, the Catamounts went on a run, scoring six points in a row to move ahead 11-8. Behind a string of team blocks for the Mocs though, they were able to jump back in front at 16-14. Just a few points later, the score read 19-19 before WCU rattled off four straight points to get within an arm's length of match point. When match point came, UTC fought one off on a kill by Kirkendoll, but the next point went Western Carolina's way to give it the set 25-21 and end the match.

Individual and Team Stats

Rose was Chattanooga's leading attacker again with eight kills to go along with a season-high 10 digs.
Jordin Glass tallied six total blocks to lead Chattanooga's defense. She also had five kills.
Caiti Barthel accounted for 15 digs at libero.
Setter Ashley Reynolds (13 assists) and Mallory Merz (10 assists) were each in double figures.
The Catamounts had 42 kills while the Mocs had 29.
Western Carolina had six service aces. Chattanooga had no service aces in a match for the first time since Nov. 11, 2024 at Wofford.

Postgame Quote
Julie Torbett Thomas Head Coach

On today's performance

"I'm very disappointed in the way we came back after a nice victory the night before. They did a great job of game planning against us and kind of exposing our weaknesses. But the serve-pass game has been a trouble spot for us, as we kind of lost it there. Hopefully we can learn from our mistakes and come back next week on the road at UNCG."

Up Next: Chattanooga hits the road to play UNCG on Friday, Oct. 23 at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m. for two more SoCon matches.

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