By Holly Weber, TTU Sports Information

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The Tennessee Tech volleyball team (5-11, 1-2 OVC) fell to Tennessee State (8-8, 1-2 OVC) 3-2 in midweek action Wednesday night in Nashville. The Tigers took winning set scores of 25-23, 21-25, 25-20, 23-25, and 15-12 over the Golden Eagles.

"In the beginning our energy was low, but once we picked it up we started getting better with our serve-receives and hitting around the blocks," Golden Eagle K'Vonna Johnson said. "We ran into a little bit of trouble when we ran into long rallies, but we are really going to work on focusing and staying disciplined to get ready for Belmont on Friday."

In set one, Tennessee State took an early six-point lead (10-4). Tech went on a run to cut the Tiger lead down to three at 12-9 causing Tennessee State to take a timeout. After the break, the Golden Eagles continued to apply pressure to the Tigers with a Rachel Thomas kill putting Tech within two at 12-10, however, TSU quickly recovered and once again created a lead by five at 15-10. Back-to-back kills from Alyssa Povey and Shealene Little and a Tiger setting error brought the Golden Eagles within one of TSU heading into the latter portion of the set. Finally, two K'Vonna Johnson kills tied the set at 20-20 setting Tech to take its first lead of the set at 22-21. The Tigers and Golden Eagles fought back and forth for control holding ties at 22-22 and 23-23, however, Tennessee State held on and edged out a first set victory 25-23 over Tech.

Things started off in favor of the Golden Eagles in set two. Tech opened set play with a 12-6 lead over Tennessee State. The Tigers pulled within two points of the Golden Eagles at 14-12 with a kill from TSU's Chloe Watson, pushing Tech to call for a timeout. Once returning from the pause in play, the Golden Eagles regrouped and pulled ahead by five at 18-13. Despite the Tigers efforts to stage a comeback late in the set, Tech claimed a second set victory 25-21 over TSU with a Shaneice James kill.

It was a close third set with the Tigers holding the slight 7-6 advantage to start. TSU later took a four-point lead at 14-10 with a kill by Watson, however, Tech would not relent and pulled back within two points at 18-16 with a kill by Johnson. Once again, the Tigers added cushion to their lead pulling ahead 23-19 before closing out a third set victory 25-20 over the Golden Eagles.

A tie of 7-7 kicked off set four between Tech and TSU. The Tigers took a slight lead at 14-10, however, the Golden Eagles went on a run to retie the set at 14-14 with a Little kill. After much back and forth heading late into the fourth set, Tech took a slight lead at 21-19 with kills from James and Little causing TSU to call for a timeout. After the break, the Tigers scored three in-a-row to pull ahead 22-21 of the Golden Eagles. Tech continued to put up a fight and kept things interesting as the Purple and Gold squad once again tied the set at 23-23 pushing TSU to call for another timeout. Out of the break, a Thomas-Povey block followed by a Kellie Williams kill gave Tech the 25-23 set victory to send the match into a fifth set.

An Allison Morrett service ace opened up fifth set play on a high note for the Golden Eagles. Tech held a slight lead at 5-4 with a Johnson kill. The Golden Eagles continued to keep the pressure on extending their lead to 7-5 over the Tigers, however, TSU pushed back to tie the set at 7-7. Later into the set, the Tigers now took the two-point lead at 11-9, however, the Golden Eagles would not give up and retied the set at 12-12. Unfortunately, three Tennessee State kills from Chloe Watson, Payten Clark and Arijana Anderson gave the Tigers the set and match victory 15-12.

"Johnson matched up a couple of rotations with TSU's setter, who is on the smaller side and she did a great job of taking advantage of that," head Coach Dave Zelenock remarked. "Even when she was matched up with their big right side though she stayed aggressive with her swing."

Johnson led the Golden Eagles with 17 kills and a .262 hitting percentage in the match. Senior setter Sharon Anderson notched her seventh double-double of the season when she tallied 50 assists and 21 digs in the match. Watson led TSU with 26 kills and 13 digs, while teammate Puamana Danielson tallied 55 assists and 11 digs in the contest.

"Sharon set another good match tonight," Zelenock continued. "She communicated well with her hitters and set the middles well, which you can really see by their kill totals and hitting percentages tonight."

Povey tallying 11 kills with a .688 hitting percentage and James also notching 11 kills with a .208 hitting percentage.

As a team, Tennessee State slightly outhit Tech .214 to .210. The Golden Eagles tallied 79 digs to the Tiger's 77, but put up 4.0 blocks to TSU's 7.0.

"We talk about it in practice a lot how one silly play or point in the beginning of the match can really make a difference for us in the end," Zelenock said. "We are going to work on taking care of those first few point and play with greater urgency. We don't really get a chance to practice before facing Belmont on Friday, but we are going to watch video and get focused and organized. It's hard to face TSU and Belmont in the same weekend because they both have really challenging styles that are completely opposite. Now we have to switch gears because Belmont is one of the most organized teams in the conference, so when you play them you have to be organized and creative because they are going to know exactly where your defense is and hit where you're not. It's a bit of a cat and mouse game with them. But we are going to put our thinking caps and focus on getting things right on our side."

The Golden Eagles return to action on Friday when they return to Nashville to take on Belmont in a 6 p.m. contest.

Photo by Jim Dillon