Ally Ford has spent much of her University of Tennessee at Chattanooga volleyball career watching others perform.
Now, with an opportunity to play, she's making the most of it.
Ford and the Mocs (11-9, 4-2) are in the thick of the Southern Conference race heading into tonight's home match against East Tennessee State (8-9, 4-2). The match will be a "White-Out," played at Maclellan Gymnasium at 6.
The 5-foot-10 Ford, who sat out her first season with a senior-heavy club and missed last year due to an injury, leads the Mocs and ranks third in the SoCon with 293 kills, including 21 in a five-set loss to Western Carolina.
Pretty good for a player in her first season playing.
"It's kind of surreal," Ford said after Tuesday's practice. "It was really weird for me at first because I felt like I was just playing in the spring, but I think I was building it up watching (former Mocs) Briana Reid, Allie Davenport, all those amazing outside hitters. But now I'm doing it and it's back to square one, back to the game I love.
"It was such an abstract thing for so long because I couldn't play, so it's just really cool I finally get to be a part of it, but I think I built it up more and kind of forgot it's just volleyball."
Coach Travis Filar said Ford has had to "carry the offense" at times this year, which he called impressive for a first-year player on the court. And he expects her to have help tonight.
"Maclellan has been very good to us, so we expect to win at home," Filar said. "It doesn't matter if it's East Tennessee or Nebraska; this is our home and we want to defend it. It's a huge match, but it's bigger because it's in conference, an in-state rival and the defending SoCon (tournament) champion.
"It's important for us to stay in striking distance in that conference championship (race). It's what we're fighting for, and we're excited to be at home and against a great team. We'll be ready for it."
The volleyball program recently picked up two commitments for 2019: Niah Davis, a 6-foot-2 junior from Glen Allen, Va., and Kenzie Saitta, a 5-11 junior from Elkhorn South in Omaha, Neb.
Davis's Glen Allen team currently ranks first in the state, while Saitta ranks third on her team - currently 16-9 - in kills.
Around campus
The UTC soccer team (3-8-3, 1-3-1) plays at The Citadel (5-8, 0-5) on Friday and Mercer (9-6, 3-2) on Sunday. The Mocs are coming off a 0-1-1 weekend at home with a scoreless draw against UNC Greensboro after a 3-1 loss to VMI.
The cross country Mocs are running in the Crimson Classic on Friday. It's their last regular-season competition prior to the SoCon meet Oct. 28 in Spartanburg, S.C. ... The women's tennis team will play in the ITA Ohio Valley Regional this Thursday through Monday in Murfreesboro, while the men are in the Louisville Invitational tourney Friday through Sunday. ... The men's golfers play Monday and Tuesday in the AutoTrader Collegiate in Atlanta.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.