Mocs announce 2018 fall volleyball slate
The Chattanooga Mocs volleyball program and head coach Travis Filar recently announced the 2018 fall slate.
On paper, the schedule looks to be one of the toughest in program history. Chattanooga will face off against seven 2017 NCAA Tournament participants including five ‘Power 5’ schools and four conference champions from a season ago.
“It is always an exciting time around our program when we can release our upcoming fall schedule because it means that we are getting closer to that first practice, that first opportunity to be together as a family once again to begin working on becoming better one day at a time,” said Filar.
“With the schedule we have assembled, which easily is the toughest non-conference slate in the history of our program, we feel strongly that it will test us physically and mentally, which I truly believe this group is ready for from the hard work we put forth this past spring with our returners, and another talented incoming freshmen class that will join us in August.”
The 2018 season kicks off up the road in Knoxville for the Tennessee Invitational on Aug. 24-25. The Mocs open up against Belmont on Friday before facing the daunting task of Michigan State and Tennessee on Saturday.
Chattanooga will return home to host the Chattanooga Classic on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 inside Maclellan Gym. Participants include UTC, UNC-Asheville, Tennessee State and North Alabama, who is playing in their first DI season as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference.
After a road nonconference matchup with Tennessee Tech on Sept. 4, the Mocs will head to Bowling Green, Ky., for the Western Kentucky Invitational on Sept. 7-8. Opponents include a pair of defending conference champions in WKU (C-USA) and Miami (OH) (MAC) in addition to perennial-power Notre Dame.
Chattanooga will round out nonconference action with a trio of games in midSeptember. MTSU visits the Scenic City on Sept. 12 before the Mocs close out non-league games in strong fashion.
UTC will head to Louisville for a match against the Cardinals on Saturday, Sept. 15 before closing the weekend on Sunday at Kentucky in Lexington. UK and UL claimed the SEC and ACC titles, respectively, last season and combined for a 5311 record.
Southern Conference action begins in Maclellan on Sept. 21 with the Mocs squaring off against Wofford. Furman visits the following day to wrap up the conference-opening weekend.
After a road trip to UNCG and ETSU on Sept. 28-29, UTC will host a three-match home stand against The Citadel (Oct. 5), Mercer (Oct. 6) and Samford (Oct. 10). That will be countered by a threematch road stretch at Western Carolina (Oct. 13), Wofford (Oct. 19) and Furman (Oct. 20).
ETSU and UNCG will come to Maclellan on Oct. 26-27 ahead of another trio of road matches for UTC beginning at Mercer (Nov. 2) and The Citadel (Nov. 3) while wrapping up at Samford (Nov. 7). Chattanooga closes out the regular season at home against WCU on Nov. 9.
The Southern Conference Tournament will be held from November 16-18 in Greensboro, N.C., on the campus of UNCG.
Mocs add Didkovskaya to tennis roster
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s tennis head coach Chad Camper announced the addition of Anna Didkovskaya to the 201819 roster. Didkovskaya comes to the Scenic City as a freshman from Kiev, Ukrane.
“Anna is a very solid player with a lot of room to grow,” stated Camper. “She has some great weapons and experience that will allow us to continue our success. She’ll be a tough girl to beat on the court and she will make everyone better on the team.”
Didkovskaya comes from the same city as current Mocs sophomore Bogdana Zaporozhets. Didkovskaya’s best ranking was No. 235. She won a Kiev national tournament in Aug. 2017 as a 16-year old. She was in the finals in doubles at the same event.
Her best ITF junior ranking was No. 885. She has made it to the finals of one ITF tournament in both singles and doubles.
Didkovskaya joins Polina Goloputova (Astana, Kazakhstan) and Lilly Holmes (Florence, Ala.) as the Mocs newcomers in the fall.
Women’s basketball tickets on sale
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball season tickets went on sale this past Friday.
Reserve your seat now for a new era of UTC women’s basketball under the direction of former player Katie Burrows. She becomes just the sixth head coach in Chattanooga women’s basketball history and the second former player to lead the program.
Padded reserved seats are $125 per person for the season and general admission seats are $100 each. With 14 home games last season, the Mocs led the Southern Conference in attendance averaging over 3,000 fans per
game. That ranked No. 39 in the NCAA.
UTC faculty/staff season tickets are offered at a reduced rate, including $100 for reserved and $85 for general admission. Faculty/staff members should stop by the UTC Ticket Office in McKenzie Arena for more information or to purchase.
Chattanooga has won 21 Southern Conference regular season titles and 18 SoCon Tournament crowns. Burrows led the Mocs to four straight titles as a player from 2001-04 and five more from 2013-2017 as an assistant with Wes Moore and Jim Foster.
The Mocs return AllSouthern Conference performer Lakelyn Bouldin, All-Freshman Team member Bria Dial and AllSoCon Tournament selection Brooke Burns to the lineup.
Also returning to the lineup are seniors Shelbie Davenport and Molly Melton, juniors Arianne Whitaker and Nakeia Burks and sophomores Mya Long and Rochelle Lee.
The Mocs will add freshmen Abbey Cornelius (Hardin Valley Academy), Eboni Williams (Hoover High School) and Morgan Hill (Minneapolis South High School) to the roster.
Tickets can be purchased online at GoMocs.com, in person at the McKenzie Arena box office or by calling (423) 266-6627 (MOCS).
The box office is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.