By Thomas Corhern, Herald-Citizen
COOKEVILLE — When it came to Tennessee Tech's Female Athlete of the Year, it wasn't an easy decision.
The question was posed when the awards selection committee met earlier this month which player meant the most to their team, without their performance does it make a marked difference in how they finished.
Make no mistake — the 10 finalists for the award were all really deserving of the honor.
But that question, that thought process was what really separated the winner from the pack in an extremely tight race.
And when one looks at Cody Dodd's numbers, how can anyone not be impressed?
This season alone, Dodd recorded 515 kills, nearly twice as many as her nearest teammate (Kellie Williams with 328) and averaged 4.33 per set. She attacked the ball 1,389 times and only had 210 errors. She recorded 52 service aces, 22 more than second-place Kennedy Wade with 30.
She had 20 double-doubles during the course of the season.
Dodd beat out a very impressive field of candidates, including Sarah Brandt (cross country and track and field), Allyson Dunn (golf), Abi Gearing (soccer), Samaria Howard (basketball), D'Airrien Jackson (track and field), Danielle Liberatore (softball), Kari Naerdemann (soccer), Whitney Robertson (golf) and Na'Asha Robinson (track and field).
"I was really surprised that I'd be selected because there were a lot of really good athletes up for the award this year," Dodd said. "I'm really happy and excited to win the award. Every one of them were just so good."
She is only the second volleyball student-athlete to win the award, joining Diane Seng, who was a four-time recipient from 1997 to 2000, but was only on the volleyball team from 1998 to 2000.
Dodd's performance led to 607 points for the season, an average of 5.1 per set. It also led to an Ohio Valley Conference tournament berth — a 3-2 victory over Eastern Illinois, then a 3-1 loss to Belmont in the semifinals.
Heading into her final season with the Tech volleyball team, Dodd was determined.
"I knew I was the only senior on the team, so my goal was to be a leader on and off the court," Dodd said. "It was hard for me sometimes because I do get so mad at myself because I know the team does look up to me to make the right moves, and when I don't, it bums me out.
"This year was just about leading all of us to our goal — which was winning the OVC tournament. That didn't happen, but we got close and we did a lot better than we thought we were going to do because we had such a rough start. I was so proud of us."
The senior led the conference in kills, service aces and points, then ranked 17th in the NCAA in kills and 10th in aces and points.
But that wasn't the start of what was a fantastic season for the Cookeville native.
Last June, Dodd was selected as one of 36 collegiate volleyball players to participate in....
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Photo by Jim Dillon
