Golden Eagles open OVC Volleyball Championship with Southern Indiana Sunday
CHARLESTON, Ill. – When Southern Indiana and Tennessee Tech locked horns in the regular season, the visiting team came through in both matches. So when the two teams play Sunday in the opening round of the Ohio Valley Conference Volleyball Championship, the trend will have to change as they square off on the campus of Eastern Illinois. The No. 6-seeded Golden Eagles will take on the No. 3-seeded Screaming Eagles on Sunday at 1 PM.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
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21 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
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25 | 23 | 22 | 19 | 1 |
Team Stats
Tennessee Tech
Southern Indiana
| Game Statistics | Tennessee Tech | Southern Indiana |
|---|---|---|
| Hitting % | 0.278 | 0.25 |
| Blocks | 8 | 8 |
| Digs | 61 | 61 |
| Aces | 5 | 6 |
By Thomas Corhern, TTU Athletics Media Relations
CHARLESTON, Ill. – When Southern Indiana and Tennessee Tech locked horns in the regular season, the visiting team came through in both matches. So when the two teams play Sunday in the opening round of the Ohio Valley Conference Volleyball Championship, the trend will have to change as they square off on the campus of Eastern Illinois.
The No. 6-seeded Golden Eagles will take on the No. 3-seeded Screaming Eagles on Sunday at 1 PM.
Southern Indiana took the first round with a 3-0 victory in the Hooper Eblen Center, topping the Golden Eagles 25-18, 25-19 and 25-17. Alayna Pierce led Tech with 12 kills, while Jordan Karlen had 25 assists and 18 digs. Ashby Willis led USI with 13 kills, while Aysa Thomas, the newest OVC Freshman of the Year, had 28 assists.
The Golden Eagles got retribution in Evansville as Tech won 15-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-23. Pierce had 17 kills, while Bella Powell and Jordyn Milhouse each had 10 with Powell picking up 17 digs. Karlen collected 43 assists and 14 digs. Willis led USI with 10 kills, while Thomas had 34 assists and 19 digs. Carley Wright had five blocks, with McKenzie Murphy posting four blocks.
USI (18-12) enters the match on a six-game winning streak with the Screaming Eagles' last loss coming to the Golden Eagles. Since then USI won two at UT Martin, at home against Lindenwood and at Western Illinois to close out the regular season.
Willis leads the team with 401 kills, while Bianca Anderson and Leah Coleman each had 269 and Wright 228. Thomas ended the regular season with 1,048 digs, averaging 9.27 per set. Audrey Small has a team-best 488 digs, while Thomas has 361 and Willis has 328. Murphy has posted 120 blocks and Anderson 104.
Tech (14-16) has won seven of the last 10 games, splitting the last four with Little Rock and conference co-champ Eastern Illinois.
Powell leads Tech with 381 kills, with Pierce (246), Jordyn Milhouse (166), Tuva Falk (145), and Ava Schubert (145) following close behind. Karlen has 1,065 total assists – an average of 9.51 per set. MK Roberts leads the team in digs with 369, with Powell (307) and Karlen (291) not far behind. Milhouse has a team-best 59 blocks with Falk right there with 57 .
The winner of the match will take on the winner of No. 2 Morehead State/No. 7 SIUE on Monday at 3 PM.
