By Holly Weber, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn.—The Tennessee Tech volleyball team (5-13, 1-4 OVC) get right back into the swing of things on Saturday when they host Ohio Valley Conference opponent UT Martin (5-15, 1-4 OVC) in a 4 p.m. contest in the Hooper Eblen Center.
In Tech's last showing on Wednesday night, the Golden Eagles fell to Jacksonville State 3-1. The Gamecocks took set scores of 25-23, 14-25, 25-20, and 25-15.
K'Vonna Johnson led Tech with 18 kills in the match. Sharon Anderson posted her eighth double-double of the season when she tallied 52 assists and 13 digs.
As a team, the Gamecocks hit .229 to the Golden Eagles .162 and put up 13.0 blocks to Tech's 9.0. However, Tech tallied 83 digs and 55 assists to JSU's 72 digs and 52 assists.
On the season, Sheleane Little leads the Golden Eagles with 151 kills and 2.80 kills per set.
Sophomore Shaneice James currently leads Tech in hitting percentage with a .331 mark on the year. James' .331 hitting percentage also ranks her first amongst OVC players.
Senior Alyssa Povey serves as a dual threat on the Purple and Gold squad. Povey stands as Tech's lead blocker with 47 on the season and is the Golden Eagle's third leading attacker with 115 kills.
Jemima Idemudia currently leads UT Martin with 187 kills and 79 blocks on the season. Idemudia's 1.14 blocks per set marks her fourth amongst OVC opponents.
Other key players for the Skyhawks are Macy Reigelsperger and Colleen Larson. On the year, Reigelsperger has put up 176 kills and 146 digs. Larson leads UT Martin in digs with 238 digs, which ranks her 10th in the OVC.
As a team, the Golden Eagles rank first in the OVC in digs with 17.08 per set. Tech also ranks ninth in assists (10.94 per set), 10th in kills (11.58 per set), and 11th in service aces (.94 per set) and blocks (1.30 per set).
UT Martin ranks seventh in blocks (1.68 per set); eighth in assists (11.01 per set) and service aces (0.99 per set); and ninth in hitting percentage (.164) and kills (11.65 per set); and 12th in digs (12.72 per set).
The Golden Eagles and Skyhawks last faced in the 2015 season when Tech defeated UT Martin by a 3-2 margin. The Golden Eagles saw winning set scores of 22-25, 25-19, 24-26, 28-26, and19-17.
Kellie Williams led Tech with 28 kills and a .314 hitting percentage, while former teammate Cody Dodd tallied 25 kills and 21 digs in the contest and Sharon Anderson posted 61 assists and 22 digs.
Madison Wessling led UT Martin with 15 kills and 17 digs, while teammate Chelsea Bowles totaled 31 digs in the match. Three other Skyhawks gathered double-digit kills in the contest: Lael Ceriani (14), Alisha Erves (13), and Kiah Cheatham (11).
As a team, the Golden Eagles hits .177 to the Skyhawks' .176. Tech totaled 69 assists and 114 digs to UT Martin's 63 assists and 110 digs; however, the Skyhawks out-blocked the Golden Eagles 17.0-10.0.
You can follow the Golden Eagles online on the TTU Sports and Tennessee Tech Women's Volleyball Facebook pages, or on Twitter at @TTUGoldenEagles and @TNTechVball.
Admission to all regular season home Tech volleyball matches is free of charge.
Photo by Jim Dillon
