By: Holly Weber, TTU Sports Information Coordinator

JACKSONVILLE, Ala.--The Tennessee Tech volleyball team (8-20, 6-9 OVC) had a big road win over Jacksonville State (14-20, 4-11 OVC) in their Tuesday conference matchup to help push them closer to post-season play. The Golden Eagles saw victory in four sets (3-1) over the Gamecocks, taking winning set scores of 25-21, 25-13, 20-25, and 25-17.

"We did great," Golden Eagle Cody Dodd said. "We worked well together tonight and cheered a lot and will just keep fighting hard to make it to the tournament."

Tech came out swinging in the first set opening with back-to-back kills from Kellie Williams and Cody Dodd to take the 2-0 lead. The Golden Eagles then went on a 5-1 run to extend their lead to 7-1. The Gamecocks persisted and pulled within two points at 9-7, however, the Tech team band together to hold on to their lead. A K'Vonna Johnson kill later gave the Golden Eagles the 14-13 edge over JSU, however the Gamecocks continued to pursue and tied the set at 16-16 with a kill from JSU's Mackenzie Rombach. From there, the two teams kept within close range of one another holding ties on-and-off until 21-21. Then, senior Dodd refused to back off and put down back-to-back kills to take the 23-21 lead and cause the Gamecocks to call a timeout. Out of the break, the Golden Eagles continued to fight and took a first set victory 25-21.

"We came out a little flat in set one," head coach Dave Zelenock remarked. "We had a lot of back-and-forth and it wasn't until the end of the set when we really came alive."

A tie of 5-5 opened second set play between Tech and JSU. A kill from Williams gave the Golden Eagles the five-point lead at 11-6. From there, Tech continued to extend their lead to 14-8 to then go on a 6-1 lead to push ahead 20-9. The Golden Eagles saw no mercy as they closed out a strong second set 25-13 ending with back-to-back kills from Johnson.

"The second set is really where we showed what we are capable of," Zelenock continued. "We got a little lazy then in the third, but in the fourth we turned it around again and started to play like the team we are."

Things got a little rocky for the Tech team as they went into the third set. This time, JSU opened with the early 4-1 lead before the Golden Eagles could tie the match at 6-6 with kills from Dodd and Johnson. The two teams battled, however, the Gamecocks held on to a slight edge at 12-10. JSU kept a strong attack as they extended their lead to 18-14. Tech tried to recover their deficit and brought the match to 22-18 with a kill from Williams, however, the Gamecocks held strong and saw victory in the third set 25-20.

"The last time we saw JSU, they gave Cody a hard time," Zelenock said. "But we prepared a lot more for their blocking and that really allowed Cody to get going so it didn't matter what they gave her; she dug well and she served great."

The Golden Eagles came with vengeance in the fourth set, opening with a strong 7-3 lead and a kill by Johnson. Determined to see victory, Tech extended their lead to 14-11 with a kill from Alyssa Povey, before taking a seven-point lead at 20-13 with a kill from Williams. The Golden Eagles continued to minimize errors and pushed on to seal a fourth set and match victory 25-17, ending with a big kill from Dodd.

"We don't really know where it came from," Zelenock remarked on freshman, Kirsten Brugere's serving. "She has really been crushing her serves, which helps her own cause in the end because she is forcing the other team to hit cross and get her those digs, helping her numbers to go up."

Dodd took the reins in the Golden Eagle match with JSU chalking up 23 kills, 13 digs, and a .283 hitting percentage for her 17th double-double on the season. Williams posted 11 of her own kills, while teammate Kirsten Brugere had 13 digs. As a team, setter Sharon Anderson led the team to an overall .245 hitting percentage, while the Golden Eagles posted 12 blocks to the Gamecocks 8. Emily Rutherford led JSU with 17 kills and 11 digs.

"I'm really excited to play," Dodd continued. "UT Martin is going to be another tough, grudge match, but I think we can do really well against them."

It's down to the wire for this Tennessee Tech team. The Golden Eagles will close out their regular season matches against UT Martin on Friday in a 7 p.m. contest to help determine if they will make it into post-season tournament play.

"We haven't seen a lot of Martin," Zelenock said. "Our staff hasn't studied them too much, but they are a big team and have the ability to play with low errors, and if they do that, we are going to have a hard time agianst them because we are more of an aggressive team. Either way, both of us are going to be fighting very hard and should make for a good, high-energy match."