By Holly Weber, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn.—The Tennessee Tech volleyball team (5-13, 1-4 OVC) fell short to OVC-opponent Jacksonville State (14-9, 4-1 OVC) in Wednesday night's matchup. The Gamecocks defeated the Golden Eagles 3-1 with set scores of 25-23, 14-25, 25-20, and 25-15.
As a team, Jacksonville State out hit Tech .229 to .162 and put up 13.0 blocks to the Golden Eagle's 9.0. However, Tech gathered 55 assists to the Gamecock's 52, and totaled 83 digs to JSU's 72.
K'Vonna Johnson led the Golden Eagles with 18 kills in the contest. Senior setter Sharon Anderson totaled 52 assists and 13 digs for her eighth double-double on the season, while teammate Alyssa Povey put up six blocks to lead Tech.
Kaylee Frear led Jacksonville State with 13 kills, while three other Gamecocks found themselves acquiring double-digit kills: Sadie Anderson totaled 11 and Mackenzie Rombach and Charis Ludtke each tallied 10.
The Golden Eagles had a strong second set against the Gamecocks, hitting .250 in the set to JSU's .029. Junior outside, Johnson put up five kills in the second set to pace the Golden Eagles, while senior Povey put up four of her six total blocks. The Purple and Gold squad maintained control throughout the majority of the second set, creating a nine-point lead at one time (22-13) with a kill by Johnson.
Tech battled with JSU in the first, third and fourth sets, however, the Gamecocks edged out victories in all three. In the first set, Jacksonville State opened with a five-point lead at 15-10 with a kill by Frear, before pulling ahead further at 21-15 with a Rombach kill. Tech made a campaign for a comeback at the end of the first set, going and a 6-1 run and pulling within one point of JSU at 24-23, however, the Gamecocks held on to take the first set 25-23 over the Golden Eagles.
In the third set, JSU again created a five-point lead to start at 11-6.The Gamecocks went on to extend their lead to 17-10 with an Anderson kill. Tech battled back to pull within three points of JSU at 23-20, however, the Gamecocks regrouped and took the third set 25-20 over the Golden Eagles.
An 8-8 tie opened up set four as Tech fought to keep the match going. Jacksonville State quickly pulled ahead at 15-11, before going on a 7-1 run in the latter part of the set to take a big cushion in their lead at 22-12. Finally, the Gamecocks took the fourth set and the match at 25-15 with another kill by Anderson.
The Golden Eagles return to action on Saturday, when they host conference foe UT Martin in a 4 p.m. contest at the Hooper Eblen Center.
Photo by Jim Dillon
