Lady Mocs still feeling optimism

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga volleyball team went only 1-2 in its home-opening tournament Friday and Saturday, but Lisa Rhodes' Lady Mocs still have a winning record and considerable optimism with a young, 16-player roster.

After their one bad performance of the season Friday, a 3-0 loss to Austin Peay, the Lady Mocs won 25-21, 13-25, 25-22, 27-25 over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and lost 28-26, 25-18, 25-18 to tournament champion Loyola (Ill.) in the Country Inn & Suites Volleyball Challenge on Saturday.

UTC led most of that first set against Loyola, which had outlasted Austin Peay 25-23, 25-17, 17-25, 27-29, 15-13 early in the day.

"We played tough," said associate coach James Onikeku, who directed the team against Loyola with Rhodes on her way to a high school reunion in Asheville. "During that first set, I was thinking, 'Wow, this is good.'"

Rhodes, keeping up on the match by texts, said the first set "sounded like a good one. And if they had won that one, it might have been a different story. Getting off to a good start is so big for a young team."

Two relative veterans who sparked the Saturday victory agreed.

"It's even very important when you win the first three or four points with a young team," said Ellie Kuhn, a sophomore from San Antonio who had 10 kills against SIUE. "In the second set we let them get ahead seven points and couldn't catch up."

Courtney Barnes is a junior from Franklin, Tenn., whose sister Julie is one of seven true freshmen on the team.

"With a young team you're going to have ups and downs, and when you get behind the downs get further," Courtney said. "But we're building chemistry and we're already a real close-knit team, and we're looking to win this year and not wait."

She had 17 kills against the Cougars, when freshman libero Paula Passmore had 24 digs and Jessica Scott added 14. Junior Bailee Chastain had 33 assists and senior Cassie Conner added 10, and freshman Kirsten Beasley had 12 digs with eight kills, several of which came late in the fourth set when the situation got tense.

Against Loyola, newcomer sophomore Laura Brock had 12 kills and 14 digs after having some key kills in the third game against SIUE. Barnes and Kuhn split 12 kills and Passmore had 10 digs against Loyola.

Passmore was voted to the all-tournament team. She succeeded the graduated all-time NCAA digs leader, Lara Newberry, as the Lady Mocs' defensive specialist.

"Everybody thought our defense would go down," Barnes said, "but no reflection on Lara Newberry, Paula has come in and filled that spot great."

Rhodes and Onikeku were proud of the team's effort Saturday after Friday's "disappointing" letdown.

"This is still the preseason, getting ready for conference play," Rhodes said. "What I keep telling them is we're still playing around with the lineup and looking for consistency. When we start getting that and get more settled on our combinations, I still think we're going to surprise some people in the conference.

"You expect a roller coaster with a young team, and I've never had this many players, but I feel good about where we are and where I think we can be."