TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – After a tough first set, the Tennessee Tech volleyball team roared back to even Friday's match against Western Carolina on Friday, but the Catamounts edged out the next two sets to take a 3-1 victory in the first day of the Bama Bash Invitational.

 

The Golden Eagles (5-4) continue tournament play on Saturday as they take on Houston at 1 p.m. and host Alabama at 6 p.m.

 

Freshman Madolyn Isringhausen led Tech with 14 kills, while redshirt sophomore Madeline Furtado also recorded double-digit kills with 10. Sophomore Skylar Boom had nine and sophomore Morgan Gish had eight.

 

Western Carolina (4-6) had double-digit kills from Julia Gardon with 14 and Merry Gebel with 12. Haley Multerer had five assisted blocks to lead all defenders.

 

The Catamounts held a slim 9-7 advantage in the opening set, then opened up the scoring with a 9-4 run to make it 18-11. WCU then closed out the set on a 7-0 run to take the first stanza 25-11.

 

The second set started with the Golden Eagles jumping out to a 6-2 lead, then as many as eight at 13-5. Western Carolina slowly crept back up, nearly evening the match at 18-17, but Tech held on to win the point at 25-21, knotting the match at one set each.

 

Boom had five kills in the set, while Isringhausen and Furtado each had four.

 

WCU took a five-point lead in the third set and the Golden Eagles hovered around that margin for the bulk of the set, taking a 25-20 victory to retake the advantage. Gardon had eight kills in 14 attacks to finish the set with a .500 hitting percentage.

 

The Golden Eagles raced ahead in set four, taking a 7-2 lead and stretching it to 13-6, Tech's largest margin in the frame. WCU came back, knotting the score at 16 and creating a race to the finish. Gardon gave WCU its first lead of the set at 20-19 and never looked back, claiming match on an attack error to end the set at 25-23 Catamounts. Isringhausen and Gebel had five kills in the set to lead their respective sides.