By Jocelyn VerVelde, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech volleyball team heads down I-40 to take on Tennessee State on Friday at 7 p.m. CT, and then will travel to Belmont for a 2 p.m. showdown on Saturday afternoon.
The Golden Eagles will be looking to bounce back from a tough road trip last weekend where they dropped matches to Austin Peay and Murray State.
"Luckily the team this season has been pretty good about coming back from bad weekends," head coach Dave Zelenock said. "We don't do anything different, we try to be pretty consistent as a program in how we approach things. They know every team in the OVC is good enough to beat us and we are good enough to beat every team, so not much else needs to be said."
What's In Store This Weekend
When the Bruins and the Tigers came to Cookeville for the first meeting of the season, the Golden Eagles split the weekend, dropping a 0-3 decision to Belmont and topping TSU 3-1 for the win.
Versus Tennessee State (9-18, 3-9)
Tennessee State fell to Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State last week. Junior Haley Hampton had 10 kills and committed just one error for a .562 hitting percentage to go with eight blocks at Eastern Kentucky. She had 14 kills and a .409 attack percentage against Morehead State. Senior Ileanushka Maldonado recorded 42 digs over the two matches, including 27 against Eastern Kentucky. Freshman Samantha Beltran dished out 80 assists last week. She had 41 assists and 14 digs at Morehead State. Naomi Wells broke the school record for career kills against Eastern Kentucky. She now has 1,252 career kills. Tennessee State will host Tennessee Tech on Friday and Jacksonville State on Saturday.
"I haven't been there," Zelenock said of playing at TSU for the first time. "Last season we had to play them at a high school in Nashville. I've heard the arena a pretty intimidating place to play though so it'll be fun for us to experience that for the first time as a staff. On film, it looks pretty rowdy and the fans have a good time so hopefully we can keep them quiet by starting well."
Against TSU, Williams led the Golden Eagles with 12 kills on the night, adding two digs and two blocks. Dodd finished with nine kills, adding eight digs, four blocks, and two service aces. Wachowiak led Tech in blocks, tallying six, while putting away a total of 8 kills. Redshirt sophomore Alyssa Povey had five timely kills while adding three blocks as well. Anderson dished out 38 assists while recording 10 digs for her ninth double-double of the season.
The Tennessee State Tigers were led by middle blocker Haley Hampton, who put down a match-high 19 kills on an impressive .333 hitting percentage. Senior Naomi Wells recorded a double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs. The Tigers recorded 43 kills to Tech's 42, but efficiency was key as Tech hit a clip of .144 to TSU's .067.
Versus Belmont (13-13, 9-3)
Belmont defeated Morehead State before falling to Eastern Kentucky last week. Senior Alex Martin reached double digits in kills in both matches with 12 against Morehead State and 10 versus Eastern Kentucky. She finished the week with a .364 hitting percentage to go with four blocks and four service aces. Freshman Arianna Person recorded a double-double with 16 kills and 13 digs versus Morehead State. She followed that up with 13 digs to go with seven kills against Eastern Kentucky. Freshman Emma Price dished out 87 assists over the two matches. She recorded a double-double of 32 assists and 11 digs at Eastern Kentucky. Belmont will host Jacksonville State on Friday and Tennessee Tech on Saturday.
"I think they've only gotten better since we played them," Zelenock said of the Bruins. "They have picked up their scoring and found different people who can help score so it's not as easy to figure out who's getting the balls."
Against Belmont, the Golden Eagles were led by freshmen Jordan Wachowiak and Kellie Williams who each put down six kills. Wachowiak let the team in efficiency with a hitting percentage of .333. Sophomore setter Sharon Anderson recorded her fourth-straight double-double, and her eighth of the season as she tallied 22 assists and 11 digs against the Bruins. Senior libero Courtney Smith scooped up a match-high 16 digs.
The Bruins were led by freshman Arianna Person who recorded a double-double for Belmont, by recording 12 kills and matching that with 12 digs. Junior Jocelyn Youngdahl's effectiveness led her to 10 kills on 16 attempts, while committing no errors, hitting a clip of .625. She also tallied a match-high three blocks. Setter Emma Price dished out 37 assists while tallying 10 digs for a double-double.
Things You Should Know
Last Time Out
The Golden Eagles went 0-2 last weekend on the road, dropping matches to Austin Peay (1-3: 25-18, 24-26, 17-25, 25-21) and conference-leading Murray State (0-3: 25-16, 25-20, 25-11). Against the Lady Govs, the Golden Eagles received 14 kills and 12 digs from Junior Cody Dodd. Offensively, freshman Kellie Williams added seven kills and fellow freshman K'Vonna Johnson added nine. Defensively, senior libero Courtney Smith 28 digs; redshirt sophomore Alyssa Povey added a team-high five blocks, along with seven kills. Against the Racers, Dodd put down 10 kills for the Golden Eagles. Povey added six kills, and Williams added five. Sophomore Sharon Anderson dished out 24 assists and Smith scooped up a team-high 10 digs.
Honor Corps
The Golden Eagle have taken home four weekly awards from the Ohio Valley Conference so far this season. Cody Dodd earned her second adidas® Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Week honor after earning 6.36 points per set against EKU and Morehead State. Her first came on Sept. 19 following an impressive performance at the Cowgirl Classic at McNeese State. Courtney Smith has earned back-to-back adidas® Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors (9/21 & 9/29) for averaging over six digs a set.
Where We Rank
OVC Team Overall Rankings:
Hitting Percentage: 12th - .162
Opponents Hitting Pct.: 6th- .206
Assists: 12th – 10.50
Kills: 12th – 11.06
Blocks: 2nd – 2.00
Service Aces: 5th – 1.35
Digs: 5th – 15.48
OVC Overall Individuals:
Kills: 5th - Cody Dodd, 3.37
Assists: 8th – Sharon Anderson, 9.32
Service Aces: 1st – Cody Dodd, 0.44
Blocks: 1st – Jordan Wachowiak, 1.20
Digs: 2nd – Courtney Smith, 5.03
Points: 2nd – Cody Dodd, 4.22
OVC Only Team:
Hitting Percentage: 11th - .173
Opponents Hitting Pct.: 7th - .205
Assists: 12th – 10.78
Kills: 12th – 11.59
Blocks: 8th – 1.83
Service Aces: 6th – 1.24
Digs: 4th – 16.52
OVC Only Individuals:
Kills: 5th - Cody Dodd, 3.36
Assists: 7th – Sharon Anderson, 9.59
Service Aces: 1st – Cody Dodd, 0.53
Blocks: 1st – Jordan Wachowiak, 1.17
Digs: 2nd– Courtney Smith, 5.48
Points: 2nd – Cody Dodd, 4.56
National Rankings
Team
Total Digs: 41st
Team Service Aces: 47th
Individual
Aces Per Set: 23rd – Cody Dodd
Digs Per Set: 30th - Courtney Smith
Blocks Per Set: 73rd – Jordan Wachowiak
Points Per Set: 85th – Cody Dodd
Total Digs: 15th - Courtney Smith
Total Service Aces: 11th – Cody Dodd
Total Assists: 66th – Sharon Anderson
Total Kills: 86th – Cody Dodd
Total Blocks: 90th – Jordan Wachowiak
