By Holly Weber, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn.—The Tennessee Tech volleyball team (5-10, 1-1 OVC) gets right back into action on Wednesday when they travel down the highway to Nashville, Tenn., to take on OVC opponent Tennessee State (7-8, 0-2 OVC) in a 6 p.m. contest.
In Tech's opening weekend for OVC play, the Golden Eagles went 1-1 on their home court. The Purple and Gold team defeated Eastern Kentucky 3-1, but then fell to Morehead State by a 3-0 margin.
Junior K'Vonna Johnson, sophomore Shealene Little, and freshman Rachel Thomas led the Golden Eagles over their two matches, each totaling 20 kills.
Sophomore Shaneice James had a solid weekend for the Tech team, hitting .500 over the Golden Eagle's two contests. James tallied 13 kills on 24 attempts, while committing just one error.
Senior setter Sharon Anderson notched her 3,000th career assists in Saturday's contest versus Morehead State. Over the weekend, Anderson tallied 71 assists and 36 digs. She led the Golden Eagles in assists (49) and digs (28) in Friday's contest versus Eastern Kentucky, notching a career-high in digs in the process.
Shaneice James ranks first in the OVC in hitting percentage with a .345 mark on the season.
Sharon Anderson's 457 assists (9.52 per set) currently ranks her four in the OVC, while fellow senior Kennedy Wade's 234 digs (4.42 per set) marks her fifth amongst OVC opponents.
As a team, the Golden Eagles rank second in digs (925, 17.45 per set) and ninth in kills (618, 11.66 per set). Tech also finds themselves ranked eighth in assists (582, 10.98 per set), ninth in service aces (52, 0.98 per set) and 10th in blocks (69, 1.31 per set).
As a team, the Tigers rank fourth in service aces (64, 1.25 per set), ninth in digs (705, 13.82 per set), 10th in kills (590, 11.57 per set), and 11th in blocks (63, 1.24 per set) and assists (547, 10.73).
Chloe Watson currently leads TSU with 162 kills (3.18 per set) on the season, marking her eighth amongst OVC opponents in kills and sixth in points (190.0, 3.73 per set).
Cherlie Adorno-DeJesus leads the Tigers in digs with 205 (4.02 per set) on the season, ranking her sixth in the OVC.
In TSU's opening OVC weekend, the Tigers went 0-2. TSU fell to Belmont and SIUE each by a 3-0 margin.
Chloe Watson led TSU in the match against Belmont with eight kills and nine digs, while Puamana Danielson led the Tigers versus SIUE with 31 assists and 10 digs in the contest.
Tech leads the series over Tennessee State 42-12.
The Tigers defeated the Golden Eagles in both contests in the 2015 season, first winning by a 3-1 margin and then a 3-2 mark later on in the year.
In the first meeting of the 2015 season, TSU saw winning set scores of 25-12, 21-25, 29-27, and 25-17 on its home court. Former Tech senior Cody Dodd led the Golden Eagles with 20 kills and five digs in the match. Teammates Sharon Anderson posted 38 assists in the match, while Kellie Williams tallied 16 kills and two blocks.
Chloe Watson led Tennessee State with 17 kills and eight digs in the contest. Teammates Taylor Patterson and Zahria Graham each notched double-doubles in the match; Patterson totaling 11 kills and 12 digs, while Graham gathered 10 kills and 13 digs.
As a team, the Golden Eagles hit .160 to the Tigers .247. TSU posted 70 digs to Tech's 60 and 51 assists to the Golden Eagle's 44.
In the second contest of the 2015 year, The Tigers saw set scores of 21-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-19, and 15-13. Kellie Williams led Tech with 18 kills while Cody Dodd posted a double-double with 15 kills and 13 digs in the contest.
Haley Hampton led Tennessee State with 16 kills in the match, while teammate Chloe Watson notched a double-double with 15 kills and 15 digs. Two other Tigers also posted double digit kills in the match; Zahria Graham with 14 and Ayanna Chase with 10.
As a team, The Golden Eagles hit .124 to the Tigers .220. TSU tallied 78 digs and 59 assists to Tech's 67 digs and 50 assists. The Tigers also out-blocked the Golden Eagles 14.0-6.0.
You can follow the Golden Eagles online on the TTU Sports and Tennessee Tech Women's Volleyball pages or on Twitter at @TNTechVball and @TTUGoldenEagles.
Photo by Jim Dillon
