SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Tennessee Tech Golden Eagle volleyball team opened the Spartanburg Courtyard Classic with a 1-1 record, suffering a tournament-opening loss to host Wofford before rebounding for a win over North Carolina A&T.
The Golden Eagle won the second match of the day over A&T by a 3-1 margin, posting set scores of 27-29, 25-22, 25-20, and 25-16.
Tech's offense was clicking against the Aggies as they were able to put away 60 kills on an impressive team-hitting percentage of .244.
Junior Cody Dodd paced TTU with a team-high 18 kills. She nearly managed a triple-double as she added nine digs and seven blocks. Joining Dodd in dominating efforts were two freshmen who stepped up their game to help the purple and gold. Kellie Williams put together her first collegiate double-double with 15 kills and 15 digs. K'Vonna Johnson added 11 kills and tallied a career-best five blocks.
Sophomore Sharon Anderson distributed the ball to the tune of 49 assists while sneaking in three kills. She also added nine digs. Senior libero Courtney Smith scooped up a match-high 26 digs, while sophomore Kennedy Wade tied a career-high with 13 digs. Redshirt sophomore Alyssa Povey tied Dodd with a match-high seven blocks.
The Golden Eagles outscored the Aggies, 79-60.
In the opening match of the tournament, the Golden Eagles were unable to find a way past Wofford's serve, leading to Golden Eagles lack of offense as Tech lost 3-0, with set scores of 25-12, 25-23, and 25-21.
The Terriers were on point from the service line, serving up nine aces and causing the Golden Eagles out-of-system for a majority of the game.
Williams and senior Madison Keyes led the Golden Eagles with seven kills apiece. Willliams added a team-high four blocks.
Smith dug up a team high 11 digs, while Anderson dished out 24 assists.
The Terriers had three hitters with double-digit kills. Danni Densford laid out 11 with just one error in the match, while Alex Holland also added 11 and she committed two errors. Senior opposite Taylor Baird led the match with 13 kills.
Wofford outhit the Golden Eagles as they put away 50 kills on a .330 hitting clip, while Tech put down just 29 kills on .184 hitting percentage.
The Golden Eagles return to action Saturday with 10 a.m. match against USC Upstate and close out the tournament with a game at Gardner-Webb at 2:30 p.m.
