Chattanooga Mocs volleyball lose heartbreaker against Furman
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (BVM) — On Nov. 15, the UTC volleyball team lost a heartbreaking match against Furman in the first round of the SoCon tournament, effectively ending their season right as they were hitting their stride.
It was a tense match throughout, taking all five sets to complete. Furman won the first set, 27-25, and then closed things out in the fourth and fifth set by a score of 25-23 and 15-11.
For UTC, it was an odd match through the entire contest. At times they looked lethargic, struggling to move their feet and recover defensively. Other times, they looked like the world-beaters fans have become accustomed to over the last month.
After dropping the first set, UTC came out blazing. They broke the set open with a 6-1 run, going up 19-13, and never looked back. They won that set and the next in dominating fashion, both by a score of 25-15.
It felt like the Mocs were about to cruise to another victory, but a totally different team walked out on the court for the fourth set.
In the pivotal, penultimate set things started slow. In the early goings, the referees called Furman for being in the net, awarding UTC the points. The controversial call seemed to spark the Paladins who started playing with a chip on their shoulder.
Furman went up late in the fourth set, 21-16 with UTC looking dead to rights. But, as has been common this season, the Mocs weren’t ready to give up. They clawed their way back tying things at 23 apiece. It was an inspired comeback. At that point in the match, the intensity was so thick you could have stirred it with a spoon. The Paladins would go on to score the next two points, sucking the wind right out of UTC’s sails.
Weathering that run for Furman was a step in the right direction for a struggling team. It wasn’t just about standing ground against an opponent, but about overcoming themselves.
“We’ve been in that situation before. We just didn’t believe in ourselves and we lost our confidence,” said Furman head coach Michelle Young. “You’ve got to trust in yourself, you’ve got to believe in yourself. And just really trying to get them to understand that they can do it. They just have to get out of their own way a little bit.”
The Mocs put all their momentum into that comeback and when it faltered they just couldn’t recover.
Facing the end of a season with a loss is always a bitter pill to swallow. With the Mocs brimming with such potential, the loss probably stings doubly. But as hard as it is for players to take moral victories, there is nothing UTC should hang their head about this season.
Most teams playing a roster majorly made up of freshmen would have viewed this as a rebuilding year. Most teams after losing six of seven games in the middle of the year would have lost motivation to keep fighting. Most teams that have been riddled by injury, as the Mocs have been, would have made excuses.
UTC chose to take the ulterior route when faced with all of these decisions. They may have fallen short of the goals they had placed for themselves, but in a season where all of these things happened, and where pandemic concerns are still a serious threat, the Mocs continued to persevere.
In a team sport where winning is everything, the mental and physical fortitude that the Mocs showed this season shouldn’t go unnoticed. Regardless of the number printed in the win-loss column.
