Oct. 10, 2010

Box Score

CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Senior Paloma Alvarez and sophomore Amanda Chaparro recorded 26 of WCU's 43 kills, but the Catamounts fell to Chattanooga in four sets (25-23, 26-28, 17-25, 12-25) on Saturday night.

"We let the match get away from us," said Western Carolina head coach Manuel Concepcion. "Their serve possession percentage was tremendous. I give a lot of credit to Chattanooga. They fought hard and didn't let us side out."

The Catamounts (7-15, 1-5 SoCon) were paced by Alvarez who picked up 15 kills while Chapparo chipped in 11. Freshman Kelcie Randazzo recorded her ninth double-double of the season in the loss, posting a team-high 28 assists to go along with 16 digs.

Defensively, freshman Morgan Cochran had a team-high 26 digs while Chaparro added 16. Juniors Carrie Minogue and Rebecca Stoltz both recorded three block assists on the night.

WCU took its largest lead (16-12) over the Mocs (6-15, 1-4 SoCon) midway through set one before Chattanooga went on a 6-1 run to take an 18-17 advantage. The two teams were tied five more times throughout the set with the final tie at 23 all. The Catamounts capitalized on two Chattanooga miscues to win the set, 25-23.

Set two saw WCU jump out to an eight-point lead (21-13) before Chattanooga went on a 10-2 run to tie the set at 23. The two teams battled down the stretch with the teams being tied at 26 after an Alvarez kill, but the Mocs posted back-to-back kills by Meagan Ernd and Heather Parman to win the set, 28-26.

The two squads were tied four times to open set three before Chattanooga pulled out to an 18-16 advantage. The Mocs went on a 7-1 run to close out the set and win 25-17.

Chattanooga scored six consecutive points to open the fourth set and jumped out to an eight-point lead (12-4) to put WCU in a hole early in the set.WCU scored three unanswered points to get within five (12-7), but the Mocs went on a 6-1 run to take an 18-8 lead and force a WCU timeout. Chattanooga closed the match on a 7-4 run to win its first Sothern Conference match of the season.

The Catamounts return to action on Oct. 15 as they travel to Greenville, S.C. to face Furman at 7 p.m.