All-Time Golden Wings Award Winners
By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech Athletics continued its recognition of the best and brightest of its more than 300 student-athletes by releasing two more winners of its 2021 Golden Wings Awards.
On Monday, Golden Eagle tennis head coach Kenny Doyle was honored as the Coach of the Year, his second time winning the award and first since 2018. The Tech volleyball team was honored with this year's Game of the Year award after posting a thrilling comeback victory to clinch a season sweep at Ohio Valley Conference rival Murray State.
Under Doyle's guidance, the Golden Eagle tennis team to its eighth regular-season title in the last 10 full seasons following another undefeated conference slate that saw Tech post a 5-0 record in OVC play. After starting the year 0-5, with all five losses to "Power 5" schools, the Golden Eagles ended the regular season on a nine-match winning streak. TTU outscored its opponents 31-5 in conference action.
Winning 10 straight matches overall, Tech fell in the OVC Tournament championship match against Belmont after COVID-19 protocols forced the purple and gold to compete with just five players. Tech was narrowly edged by the Bruins, 4-3, despite what seemed like insurmountable odds.
For his efforts on the year, Doyle was named OVC Coach of the Year, putting the Tech head man in rarified air as one of only four coaches to ever win the award six times since the accolade first debuted in 1962. Western Kentucky's Ted Hornback captured the honor six times, while Murray State's Bennie Purcell and Middle Tennessee's Dale Short each seized the accolade eight times each.
One night after earning its first win over the Racers since 2011 and first W in Murray, Ky. since 2007, the purple and gold collected its first back-to-back victories against its rival since 2008 and 2009 and the first back-to-back road victories against Murray State since 1997 and 1998.
The Golden Eagles had to pull out all the stops to collect the 3-2 (25-20, 24-26, 22-25, 25-23, 15-11) win, posting season-highs of 89.0 points, 63 kills, 60 assists and 30 block assists. The visitors' 76 digs finished just one shy of their season-best showing while their 16 total blocks was just two off their top showing of the year.
Tech claimed the opening set before watching the Racers pull ahead, 2-1 with a victory in their sites. Instead, the Golden Eagles clawed back with a comeback in the fourth set.
Set four was a roller coaster, with the purple and gold soaring out to a 5-1 lead. Murray State answered back, taking as much as a 15-11 advantage later in the game. Tech swung back control to its side at 18-16, but the two sides would deadlock the next five points, settling at 23-23.
Tech head coach Jeannette Waldo called for a timeout, giving her team a chance to regroup and force a decisive fifth set. The Golden Eagles delivered taking back the serve with a huge kill from sophomore Skylar Boom. Up 24-23, the ball turned over to another sophomore, Emma Osterbur. She produced with a service ace to tie the contest at 2-2.
It was all Tech in set five, as the Golden Eagles never trailed on their way to a 15-11 victory. Fittingly, it was a combination of juniors Taylor Dorsey and Ashley Hand that produced the final point of the evening, combining for one of Tech's 16 blocks on the night.
The Golden Wings Awards, which enters its sixth year, is an end-of-the-year award ceremony for the Tennessee Tech University student-athletes to honor and celebrate their academic and athletic accomplishments over the past complete seasons. With the cancellation of last year's spring seasons due to COVID-19, this year's awards time frame became simpler than in year's past when multiple years were used to allow for a more complete and fair field of choices. This year, all awards were selected from the accomplishments from the 2020-21 athletic year.
Previously, baseball, softball, outdoor track & field, men's golf, women's golf and tennis nominees were selected from their prior year of competition to allow a more complete campaign from which to gather nominees. The annual awards show was officially cancelled for a second year due to complications with scheduling and COVID-19 protocols. Like the 2020 awards, the choice was made to still honor the student-athletes for their accomplishments from one of the most unique athletic years in history.
Prior to the first Golden Wings Awards show, Tennessee Tech Athletics annually presented four awards to deserving student-athletes, including Male Athlete of the Year, Female Athlete of the Year, Man of the Year and Woman of the Year. The first honor established, for the 1990-91 academic year, was the Woman of the Year Award, coinciding with the first NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Two years later, in 1992-93, Tech established its Man of the Year Award. Both the Male Athlete of the Year and Female Athlete of the Year honors were added for the 1993-94 academic year. The four honors were officially adopted into the Golden Wings Awards, including criteria, for the 2016-17 academic year.
