By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – A healthy dose of offense mixed with some timely defense proved plenty for the Tennessee Tech volleyball team to claim a 3-0 sweep of visiting SIUE in the Hooper Eblen Center Friday evening.
The Golden Eagles (18-7, 7-6) received big performances from the usual suspects, but picked up clutch play from everyone involved on the night. The all-around team effort provided the purple and gold with its highest, win total since the 2008 squad finished 19-13 and won both the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles.
Senior outside hitter Madolyn Isringhausen turned up a huge night on the attack, piling up 19 kills while hitting a robust .432 for the match. The Edwardsville, Ill. native tacked on four digs and three blocks as well. She now sits just two scoops from becoming the 11th member of Tech's Double Grand Club (players who boast 1,000 of two separate statistical categories).
Directing the offensive song for the night, junior setter Jordan Karlen dished out 33 assists to pair with 10 digs for her 14th double-double of the year. She added six kills on an eye-popping .750 hitting percentage, two service aces, and a solo rejection.
Five other Golden Eagles chipped in on the distribution results, making it six different Tech players recording at least one assist. Leading the small group with a team-high 11 digs to go with her three dimes was senior libero McKenna Young. She needs just 40 more scoops on the year to become just the second Golden Eagle in program history to reach 2,000 digs for their career.
Freshman middle blocker Mallory Jenkins picked up one of the assists while totaling four kills and three blocks while fellow rookie Katie Green tacked on two aces with her assist as a defensive specialist. Right side Ava Schubert tallied eight kills, two blocks, and a helper while outside hitter Brooke Amann tallied an assist and seven digs in just one set of action.
Supplying eight kills to the effort with an ace and seven digs was freshman outside hitter Alayna Pierce. Senior middle blocker Elena Wallace tallied three blocks to tie for the team lead with Jenkins and Isringhausen.
Tech was pretty consistent on the night, producing kill totals of 16, 16, and 15 across the three sets of work. The team also racked up 8.0 total blocks collectively to go with six aces and a total of 47 terminations.
The purple and gold took the opener after pulling away from the Cougars (10-14, 5-8) down the stretch, snapping an 18-18 draw with a 7-2 run for a 25-20 win. In set two, the Cookeville crew comfortably controlled the court to the tune of a 25-19 victory that never truly felt that close, boasting at least a three-point cushion or better for the majority of the game.
The third and final set was a battle throughout, once again playing to an 18-18 stalemate. At that point, the Golden Eagles took the lead for good, using a 7-3 run this time to finish the job and claim the win.
Tech will square off with SIUE again Saturday afternoon on Senior Day, with the contest slated to start at 2:00 p.m. CT. Senior Day festivities and recognition will take place following the match in the Eblen Center.
Photo by Jim Dillon
