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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – All-SEC second-team pitcher Matty Moss spun a gem for the 2017 NCAA Knoxville Regional host and No. 8 national seed Tennessee, as she tossed a complete-game shutout striking out 10 Lancer hitters in a 5-0 opening round win Friday night at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium in a nationally-broadcasted affair on ESPN2.

Longwood opened its third consecutive NCAA Regional and fourth in five seasons against a Tennessee squad that won 44 games in the difficult SEC, meeting the Volunteers in the Knoxville Regional for the third time in those four seasons.

Moss (24-2) picked up her 24th win of the season while pushing her strikeout total to 176 in 172.2 innings of work. Longwood sophomore outfielder Jordan Clark broke up Moss' no-hit bid with a one-out single to right center in the fourth inning, but that was all the Lancers could manage against the sophomore flamethrower.

"When you play a good team like Tennessee that means you have to play your very best game to give yourself a chance to win, and unfortunately today we didn't play our very best game," said Longwood head coach Kathy Riley.

Moss matched her career-high with 10 strikeouts, with three of those coming swinging. The sophomore allowed just three base runners throughout her sixth complete-game shutout performance of the season.

"We haven't really seen fastballs like that all season," Clark said. "Between that and her mixing in her changeup made it difficult to pick up."

McCarthy, the Big South Tournament Most Valuable Player (MVP), went 4.0 innings against the No. 8 Volunteers allowing four runs, all earned, while striking out two. Sophomore co-ace Sydney Gay came on in relief for McCarthy finishing the contest in the circle surrendering one run on one hit, a solo home run by Brooke Vines in the
sixth, and striking out one in 2.0 innings.

Tennessee (45-10) got things going early as the first three hitters all collected hits for a quick 2-0 lead after one inning before another two-run fourth inning made it 4-0. In the two-run fourth, SEC Player of the Year Meghan Gregg smacked her team-leading 12th home run of the season, a solo shot off Longwood (28-28) senior southpaw Elizabeth McCarthy (14-10).

Gregg's solo home run was her second RBI hit of the day after a single in the first brought in the Volunteers' second run of the night.

Clark's fourth inning single was the lone hit on the afternoon for a Longwood offense that had scored three or more runs in all five of their Big South Tournament games last week in Farmville.

With the loss, the Lancers will take on second-seeded Ohio State in an elimination game at 2:30 p.m. with the winner staying alive for a second game at 5 p.m. immediately following the first elimination contest.

"We just came from our tournament in the Big South, and we ended up losing the first championship game and had to make a quick turnaround the next day," McCarthy said. "It's something that we're used to – playing a three game series just like every other team."

Longwood will look to replicate that success from the 2017 Big South Tournament Saturday, as well as its success from a season ago where it won elimination games against Princeton and North Carolina to advance to the program's first-ever NCAA Regional Championship game against James Madison.

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