By Jonathan Caudle, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Tech volleyball fell in a four-set battle, 3-1 (17-25, 25-21, 25-14, 25-23) against the Morehead State Eagles on Saturday at the Hooper Eblen Center.
"Despite not having a lot of offensive pieces tonight, I think our fight was great," said head coach Jeannette Waldo. "We really utilized our middles, which was really reminiscent of when we started our season and our middles were our bread and butter, and didn't go outside all the time. It was nice to come back to that, but we need to find ways to make opportunities for our offense."
Sophomore Taylor Dorsey led the Golden Eagles with 14 kills, while hitting a team-high .290. Junior Ali Verzani tallied 13 kills, while also grabbing 11 digs to earn her ninth double-double of the season. Five Golden Eagles tallied double-digit digs in the match with freshman Carly Skrabak leading the way with a team-high 14 digs. Sophomore Ashley Hand dished out 34 assists in the loss. As a team, the Golden Eagles out-blocked the Eagles 12-7.
The Golden Eagles kept things close to open the match as they battled to an 11-11 tie. The Eagles would then score five unanswered to take the 16-11 advantage. Tech cut the deficit to four at 20-16, but the Eagles would outscore the Golden Eagles 5-1, 25-17, to take the 1-0 lead.
Morehead State opened the second with an early 6-3, however, Tech would then go on a 7-4 lead to close the gap and even the set at 10. Things remained even through a 17-17 tie before the Golden Eagles would outscore the Eagles 8-4 en route to a 25-21 victory to even the match at one.
The third set opened similarly to the second as the Eagles took an early 6-2 lead. Tech would cut the lead to three, 7-4, but the Eagles overpowered the Golden Eagles as they outscored Tech 18-10 to take the set 25-14 and retake the match advantage, 2-1.
Tech responded in the fourth to outscore the Eagles 6-4 to open the set. Morehead State even things at seven. Golden Eagles would retake a three-point lead 11-8, but the Eagles would once again tie things up at 11. Tech would continue to battle for the lead as they took a two-point lead, 17-15, before the Eagles would knot the set back up at 17. However, Morehead State would outscore Tech 8-6 to eventually seal the match 3-1 with the 25-23 victory.
"As a whole, our defense was really gritty today," said coach Waldo. "We hope to keep that, and just add offensive pieces to it."
Up Next
The Golden Eagles hit the road for the next two weeks, making their first stop in Nashville next weekend as they take on the Belmont Bruins on Friday, October 11 and the Tennessee State Tigers on Saturday, October 12.
Photo by Jim Dillon