CHATTANOOGA, TENN. — The Tennessee State volleyball team dropped a pair of games on the opening day at the Chattanooga Classic on Friday afternoon. In the first contest, TSU fell 3-2 to the host Mocs and then 3-1 to Belmont. 

GAME 1: TSU vs. Chattanooga

 Tennessee State won the first two sets, but couldn't hang on and lost in five sets (26-24, 27-25, 16-25, 13-25, 8-15) Lady Mocs.

Jayla Holcombe finished with 14 kills on the day to lead the Lady Tigers attack while finishing with a hitting percentage of .344. Defensively, had two players reach double figures in digs as Hadley Pride had 18 and Janke Pretorius had 15. From the front row, Maygan Miller-Garcia contributed six blocks and Storm White added six rejections.

How It Happened

SET 1 | The Lady Tigers came out on top of a close first set, winning 26-24 in a stanza that was tied three times and had one lead change. got a solid defensive performance from a front row that blocked four Chattanooga attacks in the stanza.

SET 2 | Tennessee State took set two 27-25 to swiftly jump to a 2-0 lead. The Lady Tigers rallied after being down as many as eight points at 19-11 to win the set. Tennessee State grabbed the lead at 25-24 and hung on for the victory. The Tennessee State offense also got a boost from four aces in the stanza. Tennessee State's front row had a solid defensive performance, blocking four Chattanooga attacks in the stanza.

SET 3 | Chattanooga avoided a sweep with a set-three victory to make it a 2-1 match. The Lady Tigers dropped a tough set 25-16. Tennessee State trailed by as many as nine points as Chattanooga grabbed the advantage for good at 5-4 in a set that was tied up three times before the Lady Mocs took over the lead.

SET 4 | Tennessee State then dropped their second straight set 25-13 to brind the match level at two sets apiece. The Lady Tigers dropped the first point and never clawed back into the lead before falling in the set.

SET 5 | Tennessee State grabbed a 2-0 set lead, but dropped the next three sets on their way to losing the match. The Lady Tigers fell behind on the first point and never clawed back into the lead.

Game Notes

» Celestial Miller had a team-high four aces in the loss.
» Tennessee State rallied from an eight point deficit to win the second set.
» Jayla Holcombe had a team-high 14 kills for Tennessee State.
» Tennessee State got a team-high 18 digs from Hadley Pride.
» Tennessee State attackers were helped by a team-high 25 assists from Janke Pretorius.

GAME 2: TSU VS. BELMONT 

Tennessee State took the first set, but couldn't hold on and lost in four sets (26-24, 18-25, 15-25, 22-25) to the Bruins.

Jayla Holcombe finished with nine kills on the day to lead the Lady Tigers attack. got 13 digs from Hadley Pride along with five blocks from Maygan Miller-Garcia to lead them defensively.

How It Happened

SET 1 | The Lady Tigers endured a back-and-forth first set to win 26-24 in a stanza that featured three lead changes and was tied seven times. Neither team led by more than four points in the match. got a solid defensive performance from a front row that blocked four Belmont attacks in the stanza and capitalized on 11 Belmont attacking errors on the way to victory.

SET 2 | Tennessee State dropped set two 25-18 to even the match 1-1. Tennessee State trailed by as many as seven points as Belmont grabbed the advantage for good at 3-2 in a set that was tied up four times before the Bruins took over the lead.

SET 3 | Tennessee State then dropped their second set in a row, falling behind in the match two sets to one. The Lady Tigers lost a tough set 25-15. Tennessee State trailed by as many as 10 points as Belmont grabbed the advantage for good at 7-6 in a set that was knotted up three times before the Bruins took over the lead.

SET 4 | Tennessee State lost set four and the match, falling 25-22. Belmont grabbed the advantage for good at 15-14 and Tennessee State was never able to recover in a set that was tied up five times before the Bruins took over in the second half of the stanza.

Game Notes

» Janke Pretorius had a team-high two aces in the loss.
» Jayla Holcombe had a team-high nine kills for Tennessee State.
» Tennessee State got a team-high 13 digs from Hadley Pride.
» Tennessee State attackers were helped by a team-high 20 assists from Janke Pretorius.

UP NEXT
TSU closes out the classic on Saturday against Charleston Southern at 11 AM.