Golden Eagles travel in final two regular season weekends
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - It might be Homecoming on the Tennessee Tech
campus this weekend, but for the Golden Eagle volleyball team,
looking to capture the OVC championship, it's a long, hard road
ahead.
Tech, currently first in the OVC with a 12-2 league record,
finishes the regulars eason with four tough road matches, beginning
this weekend at Southeast Missouri and Eastern Illinois.
"We got some tough matches still ahead," said head coach John
Blair. "We need to play at our best to finish strong in the
OVC."
The Golden Eagles visit Cape Girardeau, Mo., for a Friday night
showdown with one of the hottest teams in the Ohio Valley
Conference right now. Southeast Missouri is currently on a
four-match win streak and will look to avenge an earlier season
loss to Tech, 3-0. Claire Keaton leads the Redhawks with 264 kills
on the season while Molly Davis leads the team with 359 digs.
The next day, Tech travels back across the Mississippi River and
visits Eastern Illinois for a match against the Panthers. EIU is
currently 1-13 in the conference and 4-21 overall. The Golden
Eagles downed the Panthers earlier this season when they visited
the Eblen Center, 3-0.
This season the Golden Eagles have come out strong in the OVC,
holding onto a one match lead over Morehead State and two match
lead over Austin Peay. Tech owns the tie-breaker over both schools,
via their 3-0 wins over the teams in the past two weekends.
Offensively the Golden Eagles are lead by sophomore Leah Meffert
who takes her 263 kills into this weekend. Meffert was also named
the OVC Offensive Player of the Week after helping Tech take over
sole possession of first place in the OVC.
Senior Kappy Lang is the force behind the offensive dishing out 940
assists this season while also serving up a team leading 23 aces.
Lang has been named the OVC Setter of the Week seven times this
season and is leading the conference in overall assists this
season.
For the defensive side of the net, junior Katie Kenline is leading
the effort with 449 digs on the season, averaging 5.16 per set. She
had also been named OVC Defensive Player of the Week twice this
season and leads the OVC in digs.
Not to be outdone, seniors Caitlin Bullock and Jessica Asplund have
been putting up the blocking numbers to rival top programs. Bullock
has 68 blocks this season while Asplund has 62. Asplund was also
named the OVC Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 13 when she had
14 blocks in seven games.
Tech finishes up the regular season next weekend with matches at UT
Martin and Murray State, hoping to claim the team's first regualr
season crown since 1983.
