By Holly Weber, TTU Sports Information

MURFREESBORO, Tenn.—The Tennessee Tech volleyball team (4-5) split games on day two of the Blue Raider Bash. The Golden Eagles fell to Illinois State (5-5) 3-0 with the Redbirds taking winning set scores of 25-12, 25-13, and 25-13. Later that evening, Middle Tennessee defeated Tech 3-2 with set scores of 20-25, 25-23, 25-23, and 7-25, and 15-7.

"We came out a bit flat against Illinois State," head coach Dave Zelenock said. "It shook us up a little, but we came back against MTSU and showed our true colors. We had some tight sets there where we could have won, but just didn't go our way. I'm happy with how we bounced back and we got to see some kids mature, which is always important when you have 12 underclassmen."

Illinois State took the early 10-6 lead over Tennessee Tech for the Golden Eagle's first match of the day. The Redbirds then extended their lead to 12 points at 22-10 with a kill from Aly Dawson. From there, Illinois State quickly sealed a first set victory 25-12 with a kill by Ella Francis.

In set two, the Redbirds jumped out to a three point lead (8-5) to start off the set. After that, Illinois State continued to show dominance furthering their lead to 22-11 over Tech before taking a second set victory 25-13 over the Golden Eagles with a kill from the Redbird's Jaelyn Keene.

A 4-4 tie and Rachel Thomas kill started off set three between Tech and Illinois State. The Redbirds once again jumped out to a lead, going ahead by nine points at 15-6 with a kill from Dawson. From there, Illinois State held strong and sealed a third set and match victory 25-13 over Tech.

Kellie Williams led the Golden Eagles with seven kills, while teammate Sharon Anderson posted 18 assists and six digs in the match. As a team, Tech tallied a .093 hitting percentage with 2.0 blocks, compared to Illinois State's .536 hitting percentage and 7.0 blocks. Ella Francis and Aly Dawson led the Redbirds each with 11 kills.

Against Middle Tennessee, a tie of 11-11 kicked off set one between the Golden Eagles and Blue Raiders. Tech then created a three-point lead at 17-14 with back-to-back kills from Williams. The Golden Eagles continued to extend their lead to 20-14, taking advantage of a Blue Raider attack error, and causing MTSU to take a timeout. From there, Tech sealed a first set victory 25-20 over Middle Tennessee.

The Golden Eagles and Blue Raiders started off the second set neck and neck with a tie of 10-10. Tech then went on a four-point run to pull ahead of MTSU at 14-10. Heading into the latter portion of the set, the Golden Eagles maintained their four-point lead at 19-15 with a kill from Thomas. However, the Blue Raiders fought back to tie the set at 22-22 and then sneak out a second set victory 25-23.

"We were a little out of sync in the first match, but we started to play like ourselves more in the second and really played well together," Golden Eagle Kellie Williams remarked. "Our biggest focus next week is getting up early in matches like we did in the fourth set versus MTSU, and working on finishing games quickly."

Middle Tennessee came out hot in the third set taking a 5-1 lead to start. The Blue Raiders went on to extend their lead to 16-11 with a kill by Dora Peonia. Middle Tennessee continued to hold onto their lead late into the set, pulling ahead 21-17 with another Peonia kill, however, Tech kept things interesting and tied the set up at 22-22 with a Thomas block. MTSU, however, held on and sneaked out a third set victory 25-23.

The Golden Eagles came out ready to battle in the fourth set, taking the initial 12-3 lead over the Blue Raiders in the fourth set.  A kill by Thomas extended the Golden Eagle lead to 16-5 before an Alyssa Povey kill gave Tech the 14-point lead at 20-6. Tech then took a dominating fourth set victory 25-7 over MTSU.

In the fifth set, the Blue Raiders started off in front of the Golden Eagles with a 6-3 advantage. MTSU then took a five-point lead at 10-5 with a kill from the Blue Raider's Peonia. MTSU then went on to seal a fifth set and match victory over Tech 15-7.

Williams led the Golden Eagles with 19 kills, while Anderson tallied 46 assists in the match. The Blue Raiders were led by Aubrie Huddleston who notched 14 kills in the match.

The Golden Eagles return to action on Sep. 15-16 when they travel to Moscow, Idaho, for the Idaho Volleyball Classic.

Photo by Jim Dillon