By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
MARTIN, Tenn. – Spectacular serving, incredibly efficient offense, and timely blocking was all the Tennessee Tech volleyball team needed to deliver its third consecutive sweep Tuesday evening, as the Golden Eagles took down UT Martin at Skyhawk Fieldhouse, 3-0.
The team's sixth straight victory was chock-full of more milestones, starting with Tech's 22nd win of the season, which tied for the most dubs for the Golden Eagles (22-7, 11-6) since 1998, when the program finished 22-7.
While the purple and gold dominated the Skyhawks (5-21, 3-14) at the service line as a unit, it was senior Madolyn Isringhausen shining the brightest on the night. The outside hitter set a new single-match record for service aces in the rally-scoring era, regardless of how many sets, by landing eight attempts for points.
The Tech veteran tied for the team lead with 13 kills, smashing .367 while picking up her ninth double-double of the year with 13 digs. She also added four block assists to the effort. In the contest, Isringhausen passed TTU Sports Hall of Famer Rachel Melchiorre for second place on Tech's career charts for kills and for 11th place on the Ohio Valley Conference's all-time list with 1,667.
Her eight aces in the match provided her with 53 for the year, breaking Cody Dodd's single-season, rally-scoring era record set back in 2015.
Freshman outside Alayna Pierce tied Isringhausen with 13 terminations on the night, hitting an impressive .312 while contributing five digs and an ace. Senior outside Bella Powell made it three Golden Eagles in double figures, crushing .429 with 11 kills and three blocks assists.
Junior setter Jordan Karlen racked up 34 assists in the contest to pair with two blocks, eight digs, and an ace. Senior libero McKenna Young paced the Cookeville crew with 15 digs while defensive specialist Aleeya Jones chipped in five scoops and two aces.
Middle blockers Elena Wallace and Mallory Jenkins each accounted for four blocks for good measure.
The Golden Eagles hit .348 in the opening set, needing just 10 kills to get the job done thanks to an eye-popping seven aces. Six came off the hand of Isringhausen, who accounted for 11 of Tech's points alone while leading the team to a 25-13 victory to set the tone.
In set two, the offense outplayed a feisty Skyhawk attack, edging the home squad 17-16 in the termination department while racking up 4.0 blocks. Tech pulled away late, breaking a 20-20 tie with a 5-1 run for the win.
The third and final set saw the Golden Eagles dominate once again, hitting an absurd .423 with 13 kills, just two attack errors, four more aces, and 4.0 more blocks. Tech cruised to a 25-16 victory to complete the sweep.
Wednesday represents the regular-season finale for the purple and gold, with a 4:00 p.m. CT rematch with the Skyhawks.
File photo by Jim Dillon
