By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – It was a great ending to good year for the Tennessee Tech volleyball team Monday evening, as the Golden Eagles (9-7, 9-7) collected their fifth-straight win to close out the 2020-21 campaign with a 3-1 (24-26, 25-23, 25-15, 27-25) decision over in-state rival Belmont (3-13, 3-13).
With the victory, the purple and gold secured back-to-back winning seasons in Ohio Valley Conference play for the first time since the 2007 and 2008 campaigns. Due to the shortened spring season and COVID-19 protocols, this year's OVC Tournament field was reduced to four teams, leaving the Golden Eagles just short of what would normally be an easy bid to the league's postseason event.
"We just talked about it when we huddled up on the court after the match," Tech head coach Jeannette Waldo explained. "This group is special and we did something that hasn't been done in a long time. Obviously, we want to go to the tournament. If it's a normal year and a normal field, we're there, and that's a hard thing to accept, but it was important for us to win tonight just to ensure we accomplished something we haven't in a long time. They definitely have a lot to be proud of walking out of this season."
Maybe a touch sluggish out of the gate, Belmont took early advantage of some early Golden Eagle struggles, edging the home team 26-24 in the opening set. Tech hit just .062 in the opening game, collecting nine kills with seven errors.
Much like the previous night, Waldo took advantage of the break between sets, getting her team to regroup and come out with a renewed effort. It paid off with a .278 attack percentage and 15 kills to just five errors.
The Golden Eagles jumped out to an early lead and built it up to as much as seven in the second game. Tech then held off a late surge from the Bruins, squaring up the match at 1-1 with a 25-23 win.
Set three was a dominant one for the purple and gold, registering 15 kills with just two attack errors for a .433 hitting percentage. Six different Golden Eagles recorded at least one kill in the game, one ending in a 25-15 W for the home team.
Tech won a slobber knocker in set four to claim the match, taking a 27-25 win behind 16 kills, a .205 hitting percentage and a never-quit attitude. The Golden Eagles faced set point on two separate occasions before flipping the script behind a familiar face from the night prior.
After sophomore Skylar Boom tied the match at 25-25 with her 11th kill of the evening, fellow second-year Emma Osterbur ended it. She served up not one, but two aces to knock out the Bruins and give the Golden Eagles a special ending to Senior Night.
The lone senior member of the purple and gold, Ali Verzani capped yet another strong campaign with a season-high 17 kills while hitting a robust .318 on the same night she was honored in front of the crowd in the Eblen Center. She added eight digs, an ace and a block before calling it a night.
Following the match, she was honored in a special Senior Night ceremony.
"She's obviously a phenomenal volleyball player," Waldo expressed, "but what makes her so special are her intangibles beyond the numbers. She has been a leader since she walked into this program. She knew she wanted to make big things happen. She knew she wanted to help turn this program around. That was the big appeal to her signing on.
"She was the first recruit I brought in and she loved the fact that we wanted to go and do big things. She wanted to the opportunity to make her mark somewhere. And she's tried to do that every minute, trying to lead people in the right direction with her. No matter what she does, people follow…just because she's just an influential and charismatic type of leader.
"She's grown a lot as a person. She's asked to talk about some growth and we've worked through some books together for her to mature both as a person and a player. She's really come a long way in what feels like a short period of time here. We couldn't be more proud of Ali."
Also putting up big nights were middle blockers Boom and Taylor Dorsey, each registering at least 10 kills and five blocks. Boom collected 11 kills with five total blocks and a .280 hitting percentage. Dorsey posted nearly identical numbers, producing 10 kills on a .280 attack percentage with six total blocks.
"The goal when we first came to this program was to be a middle-based offense, because that was going to be so different," Waldo said. "We've really invested hard in that, both in the recruiting side and from the training side. Middles are hard to stop. They have a lot of options of ways they can hit.
"I think we stress some teams out in that way, and then when teams respond to it, it's nice to see they [Boom and Dorsey] still have the artillery to make it happen anyway. They're flexible in their choices and they have a wide range of things they can do. They work really hard in our gym, but we also respect them a lot. They're really bought-in to our offense and they're greedy [laughing] in a good way. They like to get the ball, so we get it to them."
Right-side Morgan Gish also tallied six total blocks on the night, adding six kills to mix as well. Madeline Furtado snared eight kills and six digs. Ashley Hand turned in 45 assists, seven digs and five total blocks while libero McKenna Young led the team with 13 digs. Osterbur totaled four service aces for the second night in-a-row.
Photos by Jim Dillon
