The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga volleyball team almost assuredly won’t start this season as well as it did last year, at least in wins and losses, but coach Lisa Rhodes and her sizable group of returning players expect a much stronger finish.
The Lady Mocs open at 5 p.m. today in Knoxville against Virginia Tech in the Lady Vol Classic and face Xavier and host Tennessee on Saturday. The Lady Vols are ranked in the nation’s top 20 and favored to win the Southeastern Conference, while Atlantic Coast Conference member Virginia Tech was 19-12 last year and Xavier was 20-12, 11-4 in the Atlantic 10.
Next weekend likely will be even tougher for UTC. Playing in senior Jessica Scott’s hometown of Lawrence, Kan., the Lady Mocs will take on Arkansas, Akron and Kansas. Then comes a Tuesday match at a strong Belmont team and a tournament at North Florida before the Lady Mocs host their own tournament Sept. 17-18. Even when they open Southern Conference play, they play their first three matches on the road.
UTC won eight of its first 11 matches in 2009 but wound up 12-17, 4-12 in the SoCon. Opening the league schedule at home against Elon, the young Lady Mocs failed to win with three match-point opportunities. They never recovered.
“We just couldn’t finish,” Rhodes said. “For a while we couldn’t finish, and then we couldn’t compete.”