COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech women's volleyball team heads to the east coast this weekend as they look to compete in the East Carolina Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, the Golden Eagles will first face hosts ECU at 12 p.m. CT. This will be the Pirates first game of the season. Tech will then go on to play Norfolk State at 3 p.m.
Saturday, Tech opens play bright and early with a 9 a.m. first serve against Morgan State. They will then close out the tournament versus University of North Carolina Wilmington at 3 p.m.
"This weekend we want to see our team start to forge our identity," head coach Dave Zelenock said of the weekend ahead. "We have a pretty young group and they need to figure out who we are. If that's a great offensive team, then let's put up big numbers. If it's defense, then lets really be a shut down defense. Either way the team needs to show themselves and our staff who they are."
Know your Golden Eagles (0-3) – Last weekend the Golden Eagles opened up play with an 0-3 start at the Appalachian State Invitational, losing to Tennessee, host ASU, and Cleveland State. Freshman Kellie Williams made the all-tournament team following an impressive college debut. She hit a team-high 13 kills against the tournament host. Tech will look to get the rest of its offense going and rebound in these next four games.
Scouting the Pirates (0-0) – This weekend will mark the season opener for the Pirates. ECU went 13-19 overall last year and 3-11 in Conference USA. The Pirates lost their best two hitters from last year in Nicole Willis (3.66 kills per set, 2.44 digs) and Whitney Campbell (2.35 kills, 2.87 digs). Shelby Beasley, the team's best defender in 2013 (4.06 digs), is also gone. Tech has a 1-1 record against the Pirates.
Scouting the Spartans (0-3) – Norfolk State dropped all three of its matches last weekend at the JMU Classic. James Madison and Villanova were victorious by 3-0 scores, while the Spartans won the first set against Charleston Southern before the Buccaneers took the last three for a 3-1 win over NSU. Tech has never faced NSU.
Scouting the Lady Bears (1-3) – Morgan State is coming off of a 1-3 weekend where they lost to East Tennessee State, Charlotte, and UNC Greensboro, and secured a win over Sacramento State. MSU was led by right-side hitter Arianna Hayden what was named to the all-tournament team after she tied a team-high 37 kills, while adding 24 digs, six blocks and three service aces in four matches. Tech is 1-0 against the Lady Bears all time
Scouting the Seahawks (3-1) – UNC Wilmington hosted the UNCW Hilton Garden Inn Wilmington Mayfaire Classic last weekend and finished with a 3-1 record. UNC Wilmington defeated Eastern Washington and Fairfield by 3-0 scores and also beat Coastal Carolina, 3-1. North Carolina State kept the Seahawks from a perfect weekend with a 3-2 victory. Tech has also never faced UNCW
"Steady play is key," Said Zelenock. "Each team we play presents a different challenge for us either athletically, skill wise, or just general level of play. So it's important we play aggressive throughout and have a fairly low error total. We will have a lot of our younger players out there this weekend and we need them to step up and play a littler cleaner than they did last week."
