By Holly Weber, TTU Sports Information
RICHMOND, Ky.—The Tennessee Tech volleyball team (7-18, 3-9 OVC) closed out their weekend road contests at Eastern Kentucky (12-12, 6-5) on Saturday afternoon. The Colonels defeated the Golden Eagles in three sets with scores of 25-22, 25-13, and 25-20.
Set one started off in favor of EKU as they opened match play with a five-point lead at 13-8 over Tech. The Golden Eagles battled back to pull within one point of Eastern Kentucky at 14-13 with a kill by Alyssa Povey. Heading into the latter part of the first set, Tech kept in close range of the Colonels at 19-17 and 21-19, however, Eastern Kentucky held onto their lead and edged out a first set victory at 25-22 with a kill from Ciera Koons.
The Colonels kicked off set two with a four-point lead over the Golden Eagles at 9-5, causing Tech to break for a timeout. After play resume, Easter Kentucky pulled ahead by eight at 19-11, with a block by Koons. From there, the Colonels sealed a second set victory at 25-13 over the Golden Eagles.
Another four-point lead started off set three in the advantage of Eastern Kentucky (7-3). A kill by the Colonel's Nikki Drost extended the EKU lead to seven (12-5). The Colonels then continued to pull ahead leading at 17-10 with another kill by Drost, which caused the Golden Eagles to take a timeout. Tech remained persistent and came back to cut the EKU lead down to four at 19-15 with a kill by Shealene Little. Tech continued to battle late into the set pulling within three points of EKU at 23-20 with a kill by Alyssa Povey, however, the Colonels held on and took a third set and match victory at 25-20 over the Golden Eagles.
Povey led Tech with 11 kills, two blocks, and a .273 hitting percentage. Sharon Anderson tallied 30 assists in the match, while Kennedy Wade grabbed 13 digs. Drost led EKU with 13 kills, while teammate Rachel Woody posted a double-double with 12 assists and 11 digs.
As a team, the Colonels hit .272 to the Golden Eagles .104. EKU also tallied 38 kills, 35 assists, 54 digs, and 12.0 blocks to Tech's 36 kills, 32 assists, 51 digs, and 3.0 blocks.
The Golden Eagles return to action on Nov. 4 when they are back in the Hooper Eblen Center to host OVC Opponent Tennessee State in a 7 p.m. contest.
Photo by Jim Dillon
