Volleyball Mocs knock off UNC Asheville in four sets

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga volleyball team opened its Chattanooga Classic with a 3-1 win over UNC Asheville on Friday. The set scores were 16-25, 25-14, 25-22, 25-16, and Dani Szczepanski led the Mocs (2-2) with 16 kills on .714 hitting and five service aces.

Also for UTC, Miranda Elpers made 12 kills and Jaquelyn Langhaim had 30 assists, 10 digs and six kills, while Maddie Halsey had 20 assists, Megan Kaufman contributed 14 digs and Mikaela Gauthreaux had seven kills. Cara Guthrie had 14 kills for UNCA (2-2).

› At Cleveland, host Lee University lost 3-1 (25-22, 22-25, 25-21, 25-20) to Arkansas Tech in the Holiday Inn Express Classic but then won for the first time in six matches this season, 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-21) over Arkansas-Monticello.

Silvia Sartori had 19 kills and 15 digs in the Lady Flames’ victory, when Hanna Matthews had 32 assists and MaKayla Beebe and Allie Koepfer had 18 and 13 digs. Koepfer also had eight kills, and Mary Katherine Givhan and Alex Reuter had seven each. Against Arkansas Tech, Sartori had 13 kills and 20 digs and Bailey Kress added 11 kills and 16 digs, while Matthews had 40 assists and 11 digs, Reuter nine kills and Koepfer 17 digs with seven kills.

The Lady Flames play 11th-ranked Palm Beach Atlantic at 1:30 p.m. today.

› At Atlanta, Covenant College began its season with a tight 3-1 loss (25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 25-22) to SUNY-New Paltz in the Emory Classic, despite 11 kills and 14 digs from Sara Delk.

Olivia Sanders set 21 assists and Emily Moore made 19 digs with Hannah Stewart adding 13 for Covenant. Hannah Harris and Lindsey Stephens each had seven kills, and Allie Jakes had six plus five block assists.

› At Memphis, Destiny Stewart had 20 and 14 digs and Constance Connolly had 45 assists and 20 digs as Sewanee opened its season with a 3-2 loss (21-25, 19-25, 25-15, 25-19, 15-12) to Dubuque in the Rhodes Invitational. Then the Tigers beat Brevard 3-0 (25-10, 25-12, 25-15).

Against Dubuque, Olivia Nichols and Lilly Reilly supported Stewart with 11 and 10 kills and 16 and 14 digs while Sydney White added 13 digs. White had eight kills and Stephanie Price registered seven in the rout of Brevard, when Connolly had 31 assists.

› At Elizabethton, Tennessee, Bryan College lost 3-0 to two Kentucky teams, the University of the Cumberlands and Pikeville, in the Milligan Mountain Madness tournament. The Lady Lions are 1-5.

Jennifer Keck had 19 assists and 10 digs, Paige Randolph had seven kills and 11 digs and Rheagan Kean also had 11 digs against Cumberlands. In the Pikeville match, Mariah Dunlop and Anna Owens had 15 and 11 kills, Sidney Pierce had 19 assists with Keck’s 13 and Kean made 15 digs.

› At Marietta, Georgia, Tennessee Wesleyan lost 3-0 to both Michigan-Dearborn (25-23, 25-14, 25-17) and Southeastern (25-16, 25-17, 25-20) in the Life University Running Eagle Classic.

Haley Amet had 12 digs for TWU (2-8) against Dearborn, when Tia Madden set 10 assists and Miyah Woodard had seven kills and four block solos. Sam Cossidente had nine assists against the Florida team.