By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – In a battle of in-state rivals, it was the Tennessee Tech volleyball team that came out on top Sunday evening in the Hooper Eblen Center, downing Ohio Valley Conference foe Belmont 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-15, 25-13).
The Golden Eagles (8-7, 8-7) turned in a far superior advantage from an attack percentage point of view, out-hitting the Bruins (3-12, 3-12) .228 to .067 on the night. One of the highlights of the night was Tech's attack with the serve, posting double-digit aces for the second-straight match and third time this season.
To go along with its 11 service aces – to just two from Belmont – Tech added 55 kills to tie its season-high in a four-set match. The Bruins were held to just 33 kills on the night.
The purple and gold opened the match with a solid return for its effort, hitting .235 with 13 kills. The Golden Eagles snapped a 10-10 tie in set one with a 6-0 run to break things open. Tech went on to take the game 25-20 for a 1-0 lead.
Belmont came out firing with a response in set two, taking a 4-0 lead it would never relinquish. The Bruins hit .270 in the game with just two errors, winning the set 25-22 to even the contest.
Tech took the five-minute intermission as a chance to regroup and collect another round of energy and jumped out of the gate full throttle to the tune of an 8-1 run. Sophomore Emma Osterbur's serving and the Golden Eagle attack dominated the game for a 25-15 result.
Nine of Tech's points in the set came off an Osterbur serve, including two of the team's three aces. The purple and gold also smashed its way to a match-high .370 hitting percentage with 14 kills and just four errors on the attack.
Osterbur continued her serving clinic in set four, helping the Golden Eagles kick things off with an even more dominant showing than the previous effort, a 9-0 run. After the Bruins seemed to gain some life at 11-3, Tech knocked the wind back out of them with three-consecutive service aces off the hand of freshman McKenna Young.
Behind the five aces and another elite attack performance, Tech claimed the match with a 25-13 win. The home squad totaled 13 kills to Belmont's four in the set, hitting .258 while holding the Bruins to -.125.
One evening before Senior Night, senior Ali Verzani turned in the team's top performance with a match-high 15 kills. Hitting .237, she also added 15 digs for her fifth double-double of the year and registered a pair of block assists.
Young tied for the team lead in aces with Osterbur, each tallying four on the night. Young also racked up a match-high 20 digs. Setter Ashley Hand produced her sixth double-double this season with 40 assists and 11 digs.
Redshirt sophomore Madeline Furtado hit a match-high .296 from her outside hitter position, accounting for 12 kills as well as eight digs. Middle blocker Skylar Boom made it three Golden Eagles with double-digit kills on the night, totaling 10 with a .273 attack percentage.
Junior middle blocker Taylor Dorsey put forth yet another strong showing, hitting .273 with nine kills and five total blocks, her third-straight match with at least five rejections.
"A win's a win and you want to take them any way you can get them, but that certainly didn't feel great," Tech head coach Jeannette Waldo said. "We didn't execute some things. We got a little too relaxed and weren't as disciplined as we needed to be in a lot of ways. We need to upgrade for sure tomorrow night and play the kind of volleyball we want to play, despite what's happening on the other side of the net."
Tech will look to close out the 2020-21 campaign with its fourth-straight win, squaring up with the Bruins in a Monday night rematch at 6:00 p.m. CT in the Eblen Center. Senior Ali Verzani will be honored following the match in a special Senior Day ceremony.
Photo by Jim Dillon
