For the third year in a row, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga beach volleyball program’s season will end in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Adding another victory would certainly make this trip stand out from the past two.
Having already secured a third consecutive Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship (UTC shared the 2024 crown) this spring, last week the Mocs rolled to their third consecutive OVC tournament title and the NCAA tournament berth that comes with it.
After a first-round bye in the league’s postseason event at UT Martin, UTC beat fourth-seeded Morehead State 3-1 and picked up a pair of wins over second-seeded Lindenwood, the latter a 3-0 sweep in Saturday’s winner-take-all showdown after being pushed to the brink a day earlier, when the Mocs beat the Lions 3-2 in the winners-bracket final.
“I think we’ve had a great showing all year,” UTC’s McKenna Faychak — the league player of the year who teamed with fellow senior Maddie Lecik to earn the league’s pair of the year honor — said ahead of the league tournament. “The other teams in the OVC keep getting stronger each week we see them, so I’m excited for the level of competition that’s going to be there. I think we have a great chance of winning and doing our job.