By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
MARTIN, Tenn. – Two brilliant senior performances by the most veteran members of the Tennessee Tech volleyball team proved plenty to keep the Golden Eagles as the hottest team in the Ohio Valley Conference Wednesday evening.
The purple and gold (23-7, 12-6) delivered its seventh consecutive victory and fourth straight sweep, topping UT Martin (5-22, 3-15) at Skyhawk Fieldhouse to officially wrap up the 2024 regular season. The team's 23rd win of the year represented the most by a Golden Eagle squad since the 1997 team finished 23-10.
With the win, as well as Lindenwood's victory over Little Rock, Tech officially clinched the No. 3 seed in next week's OVC Tournament. The three-day event, held in Cape Girardeau, Mo. this season on the campus of No. 1 seed Southeast Missouri, will run from Sunday, Nov. 24 through Tuesday, Nov. 26. The Golden Eagles will square off with No. 6 seeded Little Rock Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. CT.
Ensuring Tech's placing in the top half of the OVC Tournament seeding were veteran outside hitter Madolyn Isringhausen and libero McKenna Young, each contributing monster showings on the court.
One night after setting a new rally-scoring era program record with eight service aces, Isringhausen had a field day across the board on Wednesday, piling up a whopping 18 kills while hitting .432 overall. The Edwardsville, Ill. native added five more aces, two blocks, and 15 digs to the effort as well, tallying her 10th double-double of the season.
With her performance, Isringhausen set a new, single-season record for service aces in the rally-scoring era, now sporting 58 on the year. She also climbed to second on Tech's career charts for points with 1,973.0 and aces with 168. Additionally, the senior moved up to 10th on the OVC's career rankings for kills.
Young saved one of the best matches of her career for her final regular season tilt, scooping up a match-high 23 digs, averaging 7.7 per set. She also dished out five assists in the match.
Helping the seniors shine during the night, junior setter Jordan Karlen turned in 31 assists and nine digs, mixing in a pair of kills and an ace. Fellow senior outside hitter Bella Powell contributed 10 terminations and three block assists to the effort.
Racking up seven digs and two aces was senior defensive specialist Aleeya Jones, while senior middle blocker Elena Wallace accounted for four kills and three blocks. Senior middle Emma Pabon tacked on a pair of kills and a block and senior outside Brooke Amann tallied a kill and a dig.
The Golden Eagles used a steady attack to take the victory in Martin, recording 14 kills in each of the first two sets and another 13 in the third. With nine more aces and 6.0 total blocks as part of the scoring, Tech took home wins of 25-21, 25-19, and 25-21 to stay red hot heading into the OVC Tournament.
File photo by Jim Dillon
