By Holly Weber, TTU Sports Information 

CULLOWHEE, N.C.—The Tennessee Tech volleyball team (1-0) started their 2016 season off on a strong note, sweeping Charleston Southern (0-1) 3-0 in day one of the Catamount Volleyball Classic. The Golden Eagles claimed set victories of 25-11, 26-4, and 25-19 in day one's contest.

"Starting off the season on a win is always great," head coach Dave Zelenock remarked. "Being 1-0 is a great feeling, especially going 3-0 when you have to play a lot of matches in a short amount of time. It's good to get it over quick." 

The Golden Eagles got on the board first in set one, with a kill from K'Vonna Johnson. Tech quickly jumped out to a 5-1 lead over the Buccaneers with kills from freshman Rachel Thomas, sophomore Shaneice James, and senior Sharon Anderson. The Tech squad continued to show dominance in the set by further extending their lead to 15-8 over Charleston Southern. Then an Allison Morrett service ace brought the score to 19-9 in favor of the Golden Eagles leading the Buccaneers to call for a timeout. Finally, a kill from Thomas (who put down 5-of-5 kills in set one) sealed a 25-11 first set victory for the Purple and Gold team.  

"The energy was really high and the bench did a great job of being loud to help us on the court," sophomore Golden Eagle Shealene Little said. "I think we played really well today and maybe the best we've played since I've been at Tech. We all did a great job of working together." 

Set two started off closer between the two teams, however, Tech still held the advantage at 6-3. The Golden Eagles further extended their lead by five points, 10-5, when senior middle Alyssa Povey notched a kill from fellow senior setter Anderson. The Buccaneers took advantage of a Tech attack error to cut the Golden Eagle's lead to 15-12, however, the Purple and Gold squad regrouped to pull ahead by six at 20-14. Charleston Southern then made a four-point run to again pull within two points of Tech at 20-18. Here, the Golden Eagles, called for a timeout and then Anderson came out with a kill to put Tech up by three at 21-18. However, the Buccaneers fought back to take their first lead of the match at 22-21 off of a kill from Charleston Southern's Addison Kaderli. Back-to-back kills from Kellie Williams and James again put the Golden Eagles in the lead at 23-22, causing the Buccaneers to call for a timeout. After much back-and-forth the Golden Eagles sealed a 26-24 second set victory from back-to-back James and Shealene Little kills. 

"Charleston Southern picked it up a quite bit in the second set and we didn't respond great at first," Zelenock continued. "Towards the end we got back to what was working for us. We set really aggressively and swung aggressive as well. That's what got us through at the end." 

It was another tight game in set three. Charleston Southern and Tech kicked things off with ties at 4-4 and 5-5. The two teams continued to waver back-and-forth until the Golden Eagles broke the cycle and pushed ahead by three at 8-5 with a kill from sophomore Little. Charleston Southern continued to put pressure on the Tech team; however, the Purple and Gold squad broke out and took a four-point lead at 10-6 over the Buccaneers. From there, the Golden Eagles added a buffer to their lead extending the score to 13-8 with back-to-back kills from James and Thomas. Tech then held a solid six-point lead at 18-12 before further pushing ahead by eight at 22-14. The Golden Eagles continued to dominate and sealed a 25-19 third set and match victory with a kill from Little.

Little led the Golden Eagles with a career-high 14 kills, while teammate Anderson posted 40 assists and 9 digs. Brooke Monssen led the Buccaneers with nine kills.

"Intensity works for us." Zelenock said. "Being loud and having a crazy bench and our team flying all over the place is what works for us. So we have to maintain that. We will be going against some teams that are probably a little more physical than us and will probably have some highlights. So we have to make sure we play with what we're good at and that's high intensity."

The Golden Eagles return to action on Saturday when they round out the Catamount Volleyball Classic with matches against UAB at 10 a.m. and host Western Carolina at 6 p.m. 

You can follow the Tech volleyball team online on Facebook on the Tennessee Tech Women's Volleyball and TTU Sports pages, or on Twitter @TNTechVball and @TTUGoldenEagles. 

Photo by Jim Dillon