By: Holly Weber, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The Tennessee Tech volleyball team (4-15, 2-4 OVC) got off to a rocky start as they took on Tennessee State (9-9, 4-2 OVC) in Nashville. The Tigers topped the Golden Eagles 3-1, while taking set scores of 25-12, 21-25, 29-27, and 25-17.
"Overall, I think that we started well and continued to get better," Golden Eagle Kellie Williams stated. "I think there were just too many breakdowns and we need to keep pushing through matches."
Tennessee State came out strong in the first set opening with an eight-point lead at 10-2. The Tigers then capitalized on their lead and extended it to 10-points at 16-6. Kills from Shaneice James helped pull the Golden eagles back within eight, 17-9, however, Tennessee State remained dominant and went on an 8-3 run to close out the first set 25-12.
Kills by Kellie Williams and Cody Dodd and a block from James opened second set play 3-0. Tech extended their lead to 8-5 with a kill by Williams. Back-to-back kills from Williams and Dodd brought the Golden Eagle lead to 10-7, however, the Tigers continued to battle and tied the set at 10-10. From there, the two teams continued to fight for control holding ties at 12-12 and 13-13. Tech then took a slight lead at 19-16 from kills by Williams, forcing Tennessee State to break for a timeout. The Golden Eagles held strong off of the Tiger timeout and kills by Williams and Dodd extended the Tech lead to 21-19 over Tennessee State. Dodd continued to power through for the Golden Eagles with back-to-back kills and brought the Tech lead to 23-20, forcing the Tigers to take another timeout. The Golden Eagles took advantage of Tennessee State errors and finished the second set 25-21.
"They made a lot of unforced errors," head coach Dave Zelenock said. "That helped us out but the second set is the one that we played very clean and really followed the game plan."
A 7-5 Tiger lead opened up third set play. A kill from Sharon Anderson and a James block allowed Tech to tie the set at 9-9. Tennessee State held strong despite Tech's gain and created three-point leads at 15-12 and 19-16. Tiger errors allowed the Golden Eagles to pull within one at 21-20 and then take the lead at 23-22 with a kill by Dodd. Tennessee State and Tech continued to fight with each other in the latter part of the set holding ties at 24-24, 25-25 and 26-26. A big block from Alyssa Povey and Williams gave the Golden Eagles the 27-26 edge over the Tigers. Tennessee State then broke for a timeout and came back to tie the set at 27-27, and finally close out the third set 29-27 to now lead Tech two sets to one.
In the fourth, the Golden Eagles and Tigers opened set play with a 7-7 tie. Tennessee State then took a three-point lead at 12-9. Kills by Dodd brought Tech within two at 13-11, however, the Tigers exceled and created four-point leads at 16-12 and 19-15. Tennessee State kept a strong offense and went on a 6-2 run to take the fourth set and the match 25-17.
"Kellie is finding different ways to score," Zelenock continued. "She scored a lot of point at the OVC tournament last year and she is finding different ways to score now. I really like her problem solving skills."
Dodd led the Golden Eagles with 19 kills and five digs and one block. Williams gathered 16 kills and two digs in the match, while Anderson put up 38 assists, seven digs and four kills in the match. Chloe Watson led the Tigers with 17 kills, and eight digs.
"Morehead has the top freshmen in league that are also ranked in national categories," Zelenock remarked. "They were a good team last year, and are an even better team this year. They have seniors playing like seniors and freshmen who also play like seniors so they will be solid competition."
"I'm excited to be at home next weekend," Williams continued. "I think that will give us the intensity that we sometimes lack on the road and hopefully give us some more wins under our belt."
Next, the Golden Eagles return home to the Eblen Center to host Morehead State in a 7 p.m. contest on Friday, October 16.
