By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech volleyball team will kick off a tough, three-game road swing with midweek action at Morehead State, squaring off with the Eagles Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. CT.
The match is slated to appear on ESPN+ and represents a rematch between the two squads from a midweek tilt back on Oct. 6. Morehead took a 3-1 win in the meeting, with neither team hitting over .100 in the contest.
Tech and the Eagles split the first and third sets, but it was set two that proved the ultimate decision-maker. The visitors from Morehead eked out a 28-26 win in the set, rallying from a 24-21 deficit to take a 2-0 lead. The Golden Eagles extended the match with a set three win, but fell in the fourth game, 25-20.
THE MATCHUPS
Wednesday, October 27 – at Morehead State, 5 p.m. | Live Video | Live Stats
TEAM NOTES
Tech split a pair of weekend tilts with a Southeast Missouri squad that had won eight consecutive matches, handing the Redhawks their first three-set sweep of the entire season on Saturday.
The Golden Eagles racked up a whopping 55 kills as a unit in the win, looking borderline unstoppable from the very beginning. Hitting .367, the purple and gold turned in their highest attack percentage since 2018, when the Cookeville crew hit a stellar .374 in a sweep over Hampton.
A pair of particularly special weekends helped propel Tech to the split, as Taylor Dorsey and Ashley Hand were each honored by the OVC. Dorsey took home her second Defensive Player of the Week accolade while Hand was named Setter of the Week for the second time this season.
Dorsey averaged 1.71 blocks per set, with a total of 12 overall, and racked up a whopping 33 kills with just five errors in seven sets, averaging 4.71 per game. The junior hit a mind-blowing .483 from her middle blocker position, accounting for 5.57 points per set.
The Golden Eagle middle hit .452 with a team-high 18 kills and seven block assists in Friday's match, following it up with 15 kills to just one error for a .519 attack percentage and five more blocks in Saturday's win. On Friday, Dorsey passed Bilyana Triko to rank fifth on Tech's all-time career total blocks list. She also currently ranks fifth on the Golden Eagle career list for block assists, needing just 19 more to pass Bonnie Zoss for fourth.
Hand dominated all weekend to the tune of 13.29 assists per set. Quarterbacking a hot offense, the setter helped Tech to a .253 hitting percentage as a unit, including a mark of .367 in Saturday's victory, the highest output by a Golden Eagle squad since 2018.
The Greenwood Village, Colo. native dished out 49 helpers for a 12.25 per set average on Friday, adding 10 digs for a double-double. She then delivered a remarkable 44 assists in just three sets in Saturday's win, an average of 14.67, tying for the fourth-most in a three-set match by a Golden Eagle during the rally-scoring era.
Currently ranked seventh in program history in career assists with a mark of 2,552, Hand needs just 319 more to pass Jenny (Pruett) Turner for sixth all-time. Her current career rate of 9.52 assists per set ranks second in program history while her season rate of 10.17 assists per set ranks fifth in the rally-scoring era.
Outside hitter Madolyn Isringhausen looked spectacular all weekend, averaging 3.86 kills per set with a whopping .271 attack percentage in seven sets. The returning freshman added 27 digs to tie for the team lead, posting back-to-back double-doubles. Isringhausen ranks fourth in the OVC in both kills and points per set, with marks of 3.41 and 4.00, respectively.
Libero McKenna Young ranks seventh in the league with 4.01 digs per set and fourth in service aces per set with an average of 0.32. The returning freshman boasts 14 straight matches with double-figure digs.
SCOUTING THE EAGLES
(2021 record: 13-9, 9-2 OVC | Series Record: 20-74 | H: 10-33 | A: 7-34 | N: 3-7)
The Eagles enter the midweek match-up as the hottest team in the OVC, winning nine straight matches after falling to Austin Peay in the first two conference tilts of the season. Morehead State collected a weekend sweep of Eastern Illinois on the road in its most recent action, winning 3-0 and 3-1.
Two-time OVC Player of the Year Olivia Lohmeier ranks second all-time in career kills in MSU program history, needing just 154 more to become the second Eagle to register 2,000 terminations in her career. She ranks second in the OVC with 4.06 kills per set and with 4.60 points per set.
Junior libero Allison Whitten has upped her career dig total to 1,645, which ranks eighth in program history. She needs just 29 more to move to seventh and 39 more to rank sixth. Whitten currently ranks fourth in the OVC with 4.81 digs per set.
Setter Bridget Bessler has averaged more than 10 assists per set in each of her past five matches. Bessler ranks second in the league in assists per set with a mark of 10.25.
Middle blocker McKenzee Wagener owns 51 total blocks over the past nine matches, including nine two separate times. The freshman ranks second in the league in total blocks with 93 and third in blocks per set.
Up Next
Tech continues its three-match road swing with a 5:00 p.m. meeting at UT Martin on Friday and an 11:00 a.m. matinee against the Skyhawks on Saturday.
Photo by Jim Dillon