COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech women's volleyball team was picked to finish in fifth place in the Ohio Valley Conference on Wednesday by the league head coaches and sports information directors.
The Golden Eagles finished in fifth place last season following a 9-7 conference record. Tech took that fifth place spot into the OVC tournament where they topped No. 4 Jacksonville State in a five-set thriller, then fell in the semifinals to No. 1 Murray State.
Murray State retained the No. 1 spot as they earned 20 first place votes. Belmont followed with four first place votes, Eastern Illinois and Eastern Kentucky rounded out the top-five.
Tech's lone senior Cody Dodd earned her place on the 2015 Preseason All-OVC Volleyball Team, which was also announced on Wednesday.
Dodd, a 6-foot-4 Cookeville Native, is coming off of an impressive summer campaign that saw her selected as one of 36 athletes to participate in the U.S. Collegiate National Team (CNT) program as a part of Team USA. Dodd's squad, CNT Blue, went on to win the round robin tournament. She scored a total of 12 points over the tournament.
Throughout the 2014 season, Dodd saw 122 sets over 33 matches, through which she tallied 433 kills, 328 digs, 89 blocks, and 47 aces. She also recorded 12 double-doubles. She scored a total of 525.5 points for the Golden Eagles, averaging an Ohio Valley Conference-best 4.31 points per set over the season. Dodd earned a place on the 2014 All-Ohio Valley Conference team as she led the conference in points (4.31) and service aces (.39), and was third in kills (3.55) in overall play. In conference-only play, Dodd finished first in aces (0.44), and second in both points (4.75) and kills (3.97). Dodd was the first TTU student-athlete to earn the honor of All-OVC since Kelsey Gray earned the honor following the 2012 season. Dodd finished the season ranked 19th in the nation in total service aces, and 41st in aces per set. Dodd recorded double-figure kills in 22 matches, and eclipsed 20-plus kills on four occasions.
Dodd and the rest of the Golden Eagles opened up preseason practices last week, as they prepare to take the court for the first time on Aug. 28 at the Wright State Invitational.
2015 Preseason All-OVC Team
Arianna Person, Belmont*#
Marah Bradbury, Eastern Illinois*
Abby Saalfrank, Eastern Illinois*
Scottie Ingram, Murray State*
Sam Bedard, Murray State*
Taylor Olden, Murray State*
Taylor Masterson, Southeast Missouri*
Kristen Torre, SIUE*
Cody Dodd, Tennessee Tech*
Kristen Besselsen, Murray State
Rachel Vick, Eastern Kentucky
Hannah Sigala, Morehead State
Aubrey Marasellis, Austin Peay
Chelsea Lee, Eastern Illinois
* - All-OVC in 2014
# - All-Newcomer in 2014
Order of Finish (POINTS)
1. Murray State (20 first-place votes) 240
2. Belmont (Four first-place votes) 216
3. Eastern Illinois 173
4. Eastern Kentucky 169
5. Tennessee Tech 147
6. Jacksonville State 139
7. Morehead State 128
8. Austin Peay 126
9. Southeast Missouri 89
10. SIUE 88
11. Tennessee State 38
12. UT Martin 31
