CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Tech volleyball team entered Friday night's match with Austin Peay having won its last two contests, but the Golden Eagles could not find a way to make it three in a row as the Lady Governors swept TTU (25-17, 25-20, 25-16) at the Dunn Center in Clarksville, Tenn. With the loss, Tech drops to 3-12 overall and 2-4 in the OVC, while Austin Peay improves to 11-4 overall with an unblemished 5-0 mark in conference play.
Senior Katie Kenline finished Friday's contest with a match-high 18 digs to make it 12 matches in a row that she has recorded double-digit saves. The reigning OVC Defensive Player of the Year, Kenline leads the team with 282 digs this season.
Offensively, the Golden Eagles were led by junior Marie Peddicord, junior Leah Meffert and senior Teresa Craig who all notched seven kills. Peddicord finished with a match-high .538 hitting percentage to make it three consecutive matches that she has hit .400 or better.
Peddicord and senior Amanda Lindgren each finished with three stuffs to pace the Golden Eagle block. As a team, Tech was out-blocked for the first time in the last three matches as the Lady Governors held a 10.0-6.0 advantage in the category.
The first set on Friday night featured a series of runs as Austin Peay raced out to a 4-0 lead before the Golden Eagles matched that effort to tie the game early. The set remained tied until 10-10 when the Lady Governors used an 8-2 run to seize an 18-12 advantage. Tech came back within five points, 20-15, on a kill by Lindgren, but that is as close as the Golden Eagles would get before falling, 25-17.
TTU battled in the second set and kept it close thanks to kills Lindgren and Meffert, making the score 19-18 in favor of Austin Peay. However, APSU capitalized on back-to-back Golden Eagle attack errors to grab a three-point lead before the Lady Governors looked to the OVC leader in kills, Stephanie Champine, who delivered two of the final three points of the set to give Austin Peay a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Golden Eagles never got started in the final set as they fell behind 10-2 early on before closing the deficit to six, 14-8, midway through the stanza. An ace by Meffert narrowed the gap to five, 15-10, but Austin Peay scored the next three points to kill Tech's momentum before eventually closing out the set and match, 25-16.
Tech will look to get back to its winning ways when the team travels to Nashville on Saturday afternoon for a match against Tennessee State. Game time is set for 2 p.m.
