By Holly Weber, TTU Sports Information 

COOKEVILLE, Tenn.—The Tennessee Tech volleyball team (7-19, 3-10 OVC) fell to in-state rival Tennessee State (15-14, 6-7 OVC) in three sets. The Tigers claimed set scores of 25-14, 25-10, and 25-17. 

Tennessee State opened up set one with a four-point (8-4) lead over the Golden Eagles. Tech pulled within one point at 8-7 with a block from Alyssa Povey and Abigail Duncan. However, the Tigers pushed their lead back up to five points at 15-10 with a kill by Julia Pierson. From there, TSU extended their lead to 19-12, before taking a first set victory at 25-14 with a block by Pierson and Alexis Johnson. 

A score of 10-4 started off set two in favor of the Tigers. The Golden Eagles then went on a three-point run to cut the TSU lead down to 10-7, however, the Tigers regrouped and 5-0 run to extend their lead to 15-7 over the Golden Eagles. Into the latter part of the set, TSU led by nine at 18-9 and then went on a 7-1 run to close out a second set victory at 25-10. 

The Tigers started off set three with a four-point lead at 9-5 and a kill from Pierson. Tech battled back to cut the TSU lead down to two at 12-10 with a kill from Susan Jeziorowski. However, the Tigers once again extended their lead and pulled ahead to 16-10, taking advantage of a Golden Eagle attack error. Tennessee State continued to hold strong, leading at 19-11, however, Tech began to gain some momentum and kept the match interesting by going on a 5-0 run to cut the Tiger lead down to three at 19-16. Unfortunately, the Golden Eagles came up short as Tennessee State regrouped and went on a 6-1 run to take a third set and match victory at 25-17 with a kill by Pierson. 

Duncan led the Golden Eagles with eight kills and six digs in the contest. Sharon Anderson posted 15 assists for Tech, while teammate Kennedy Wade tallied 12 digs. Samantha Beltran led the Tigers with a double-double; notching 13 assists and 11 digs in the contest. Fellow TSU teammates Taylor Patterson put up eight kills for the Tigers, while Chloe Watson notched 18 digs. 

The Golden Eagles return to action on Saturday for their final home match of the regular season. Tech will host Belmont in a 4 p.m. contest in the Hooper Eblen Center, where Golden Eagle seniors Alyssa Povey, Sharon Anderson, and Kennedy Wade will be honored before the beginning of the match.

Photo by Thomas Corhern