COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Tech women's volleyball team participated in the 'dig pink' fundraiser to raise money for breast cancer research during October, national breast cancer awareness month. The Golden Eagles gathered the funds that were pledged, totaling a final amount of $1,553.90.
"Last year we didn't do a 'dig pink' event because we wanted to make sure we could do it right," head coach Dave Zelenock said. "So this year we decided as a staff to do it and Coach Joyner really spearheaded the whole thing. Our goal was to raise a significant amount of money and do it the way 'dig pink' used to be done, which is by asking friends and family to pledge donations per dig recorded. This was we were putting some pressure on our players to not only get the sponsors, but get the digs up so they could raise money."
Tech donated the raised funds to the Side-Out Foundation. Side-out was established in 2004 to unite volleyball players and coaches and to have them work toward the common goal of furthering breast cancer awareness, education and patient services. Side-Out supports teams nationwide in their volleyball tournaments, clinics and other fundraising efforts. They contribute the funds to organizations that serve breast cancer patients, whether it is in the form of research, medical services or patient support.
"I think at this point, breast cancer has awareness, everyone knows its effect on the human body," Zelenock said. "For us it was about the money, we wanted to raise money that would go to research and helping people. I know there are programs that go crazy with pink jerseys and hairbands and banners and all that, which is great. For us it was about trying to help actual people with actual dollars. That's why the most you saw from us was some pink shoelaces, other than that it was just about getting the dig numbers as high as we could, so we could raise as much as possible."
The 2014 Golden Eagle volleyball season recently wrapped up, as they finished with a 16-19 record, and a 9-7 record in Ohio Valley Conference play, marking the first time since 2008 that TTU finished with a winning record in conference play.
