By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – One night after rolling to a dominant 3-0 victory over Eastern Kentucky, the Tennessee Tech volleyball team had to dig deep to outlast a resurgent Colonel squad Monday evening. The Golden Eagles (4-2, 4-2) fought back-and-forth with EKU (1-5, 1-5) in the Hooper Eblen Center, clinching the weekend sweep with a 3-2 (23-25, 26-24, 25-9, 23-25, 15-11) victory.
"It was good for them to have to fight through some things," Tech head coach Jeannette Waldo said, "to feel uncomfortable and then know they could still grit it out. At the end, we started talking about playing with heart versus just x's and o's. We just had to play with more heart than them for longer on our home court. That was a really important win for us, especially in that way."
The Colonels came out firing on all cylinders, sneaking past the purple and gold 25-23 in set one behind 17 kills and a .297 hitting percentage. A few slick adjustments led to a Golden Eagle block party for the remainder of the match, with the home squad tallying five blocks in each of the second, third and fourth sets.
Between the surge at the net and 14 kills, the Tech squad rallied to claim the second set, 26-24. But it was set three where the Golden Eagles truly looked at their most comfortable, kicking things off with an insurmountable 10-1 run. Tech never took its foot off the gas pedal, rolling to a 25-9 win in set three behind five more blocks, 10 kills and 11 errors from the Colonels.
EKU refused to go down quietly, surging again for 16 kills and a 25-23 win to force a fifth and decisive set. That momentum looked to continue early in set five, with the visitors taking as large as a 7-3 lead. Three straight kills brought Tech right back into it, and when the Golden Eagles tied things up at 8-8, it was time for a Colonel timeout.
Tech continued the momentum out of the break, taking the lead for good while slowly edging away from Eastern Kentucky for the 15-11 win.
The purple and gold formed a brick wall at the net for much of the night, tallying a whopping 18 blocks in the contest. It marked the most by a Golden Eagle squad since totaling 18 blocks on Oct. 27, 2012 at Eastern Kentucky.
Junior middle blocker Taylor Dorsey led the defensive effort, turning in her second career double-double behind 13 kills and a season-high 10 blocks. Both Dorsey and senior outside hitter Ali Verzani each tallied three solo blocks, with Verzani finishing with six total blocks on the night. She also produced a match-high 14 kills while adding nine digs and three service aces.
"It certainly helped everything for sure when we started blocking some balls," Waldo explained. "We made a shift strategically and started guiding the ball a little bit more to our libero and letting her handle the ball more. I think that was really when things shifted. It made their outside hitters a little more uncomfortable and allowed us to be a little more in-system and able to give our middles more action offensively."
After leading Tech with 10 kills Sunday night, Madeline Furtado continued her hot play, posting her first career double-double. The redshirt sophomore tied her career-best total of 11 kills while setting a new self standard with 12 digs. She also racked up three service aces.
Setter Ashley Hand distributed the ball all over the place for the Golden Eagles, tallying a season-high 47 assists. Freshman libero McKenna Young also established a season-high of her own, leading the match with 20 digs. Sophomore middle blocker Skylar Boom narrowly missed on becoming the fourth member of Tech's double-digit kills club on the night, snagging nine with five total blocks.
"It gives them some confidence to know they can fight things out," Waldo said of the five-set victory. "We're definitely going to be in some imperfect situations down the line against some of these teams. We're going to have some match-ups that are better and some that are worse, so just knowing they can go into their toolbox and remember this night will be big for us. When you try to do something for the first time, it's always rocky, but doing it again when you know that feeling, it's bound to feel a little more comfortable."
The Golden Eagles will hit the road for its next set of Ohio Valley Conference matches, visiting undefeated Jacksonville State (6-0, 6-0) for a pair of matches starting on Sunday, Feb. 28.
Photo by Jim Dillon
