COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tech volleyball team gave a valiant effort in their send off of three seniors Saturday night, but it wasn't enough as the Panthers clinched a 3-1 victory in the Golden Eagles final home match of the season. Prior to the match, Tech honored the careers of three seniors, Madison Comperry, Katrina Dvorken and Kelsey Gray.
Set scores for Eastern Illinois were 25-23, 19-25, 25-19 and 25-20.
The Golden Eagles were led by the effort of Gray at the net. Gray recorded 11 kills, on 21 swings and a .381 attack percentage. Gray also had a hand in eight block assists in her last home court appearance. Ellen Conti finished just shy of a double-double recording 10 kills, eight digs and four block assists. Madison Keyes, Audrey Lewis, Elise Robertson and Cody Dodd all added six kills each.
Defensively, Courtney Smith had a match high 18 digs, and Lewis added eight of her own. Gray, Madison Comperry and Ashleigh Hancock had four digs. Hancock and Comperry dished out 21 and 17 assists respectively. Robertson had a match high three solo blocks and added a hand in three additional blocks. The Golden Eagles outblocekd the Panthers 14 to nine.
A special presentation was given before the match to honor Comperry, Dvorken and Gray.
Comperry has played in 319 sets in 103 matches during her four-year career. Madison has collected more than 1000 assists and 500 digs, including 149 digs so far this season.
Gray will graduate leaving her mark in the Tennessee Tech record books. Kelsey has played in 423 sets across 113 matches tallying nearly 900 kills, more than 200 digs and almost 500 blocks. Kelsey ranks second in total block solos with 153, the most in the rally-scoring era. Along with Tech records, Kelsey has been named Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week twice in her career, and to the OVC all-newcomer team her freshman year. Kelsey currently ranks 10th in the NCAA blocks per set, and first in the OVC.
The Golden Eagles will play in their final conference matches on the road. Tuesday Tech will play at Jacksonville State, for a 6 p.m. match and Saturday, face Southeast Missouri State in Cape Girardeau, Mo. at 2 p.m.