Ohio Valley Conference

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - A dominant display across the board was more than enough for the Tennessee Tech volleyball team to earn its ninth 3-0 sweep of the season Thursday afternoon, as the Golden Eagles made quick work of Ohio Valley Conference rival Western Illinois in the Hooper Eblen Center.

Already equipped with the top offense in the league and one of the best in the nation, the Cookeville crew took it to a whole new level on Thursday, trailing for a grand total of four points the entire day. Tech (14-1, 3-0) set the standard early and never let the Leathernecks (8-7, 2-2) get comfortable on their offensive side of the net either.

Right from the first swing, the match belonged to the Golden Eagles, with a 5-1 lead making the statement. Western Illinois closed to as close as 11-10 with a five-point run, but Tech slammed the door shut on its way to a decisive 25-17 win.

The offense produced 16 kills in the set on .217 efficiency, providing the defense the room to keep the Leathernecks off form. The visitors managed just seven terminations in the set, hitting a chilly .054.

Not much improved for the Leathernecks in set two, other than the Golden Eagles making 12 attack errors. The home purple and gold more than made up for the miscues, stacking a whopping 19 strikes onto its total of the day while keeping the WIU offense at bay again to the tune of seven kills and an 0.53 attack.

Western Illinois earned its only lead of the day to start the second set, jumping in front 2-0. Tech quickly tied the match twice and then put the Leathernecks in its rearview mirror for the remainder of the day, claiming set two, 25-21.

Set three was much of the same, with the Cookeville crew dominating the kills board yet again with a 16-8 advantage. It paved the way for the deciding, 25-19 victory.

Outside hitter Madolyn Isringhausen nearly signed and delivered the third set by herself, landing nine strikes on Western's side while hitting .333. The senior concluded another spectacular showing with her fourth double-double of the year, adding a season-high 14 digs to her match-high 16 kills and .243 hitting percentage.

Isringhausen continued her ascent up the all-time career kills chart for the program, passing Laura Sidorowicz (2001-04) for fourth place, totaling 1,411 so far. She also skipped past Bonnie Zoss (1989-92) for fourth on the team's all-time career list for points, with 1,655.0.

Junior setter Jordan Karlen had the Golden Eagle offense humming throughout the day, doling out 40 assists to go with 12 digs for her eighth double-double of the year.

Rookie Alayna Pierce was a force as well from the outside, piling up 15 terminations to go along with eight digs, two solo blocks, and an ace. Fellow freshman Mallory Jenkins provided an early spark, finishing the day with eight kills and three total rejections from her middle blocker role.

Also contributing eight kills to the effort was senior outside Bell Powell, landing each of her first four swings of the game. She added three block assists to the mix as well. Libero McKenna Young tallied 14 digs to tie Isringhausen for the team lead and tacked on three helpers while defensive specialist Aleeya Jones mixed in nine digs.

SOUTHERN INDIANA 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 2
CHARLESTON, Ill. - University of Southern Indiana Volleyball (7-9, 2-2 OVC) flips the script from Tuesday, winning a riveting five-set match against Eastern Illinois University (4-9, 0-3 OVC) on Thursday night (25-22,19-25, 23-25, 25-16,15-12). The win marks the Screaming Eagles first victory over the Panthers in program history.
 
Graduate senior Jasmine Green helped the Eagles gain an early 6-3 lead with two powerful kills. The Panthers erupted on a nine-point run forcing the Eagles to call a timeout to regroup falling behind 15-11. Following the timeout, USI mounted their own 11-6 run as sophomore Ashby Willis tallied her fifth kill along with a huge block assist with senior Paris Downing forcing the Panthers to call a timeout with a one-point lead. Sophomore Leah Coleman smashed a kill past the Panther defense to clinch set one. The Eagles finished set one on a 14-7 run. Freshman Kerigan Fehr had an exceptional first set with five digs limiting the Panthers to a .048 hitting percentage.
 
Junior Keira Moore placed her team leading 16th service ace of the season perfectly between the Panther defense for a 4-2 lead. Coleman elevated for four kills to keep the Eagles within one at 12-13. However, EIU surged on a late 12-7 run evening the match at one. Eight USI attacking errors stuck out on the stat sheet along with an efficient .250 hitting percentage from the Panthers.
 
EIU jumped out to an early 6-2 lead, but Fehr continued her special night with a service ace to draw within one point. Both teams traded points as senior Abby Weber evened the match at ten with a kill from the back row. EIU used a 12-6 run to gain a 22-16 lead late. Senior Carly Sobieralski caught the defense off guard with a kill and Willis finished two consecutive kills from the left side to inch within two points of the Panthers at 22-24. After four straight Eagles points, EIU finished the set with a kill. Willis continued to be the relied upon offensively as an outside target with 13 kills as senior Bianca Anderson contributed nine kills on a .474 attacking percentage up the middle.

USI led early as Green used a unique second contact kick save and kill on the same rally. Sobieralski dished out her 43nd assist to Willis making it 11-7 Eagles. Coleman added two consecutive kills from Sobieralski to gain the six-point lead. The USI defense dominated set four as EIU struggled with a .026 hitting percentage. Four different Eagles finished set four with double digit digs and the Eagles also out blocked the Panthers.
 
The Eagles were tested early in set five falling behind 4-1. However, Fehr tallied her career high third service ace in the clutch to even the match at four. The Eagles leaned on Willis for two huge kills to give the Eagles a 12-9 lead. Another sophomore standout, Coleman closed the door with two emphatic kills to clinch the match.
 
After the demoralizing five-set loss to University of Tennessee at Martin on Tuesday, USI desperately needed this victory to stay near the top of the Ohio Valley Conference standings. The Eagles are now 2-2 in five set matches.  
 
Willis had a monster night leading the Eagles offensively tying a career high of 19 kills. Sobieralski earned her third 50+ assist game in the last six matches with 54. Sobieralski is averaging an insane 48 assists per game in the past seven matches. Moore (22), Sobieralski (16), Weber (14), Willis (12) and Fehr (10) all totaled double digit digs. Downing swatted a team leading six blocks, while Fehr finished with three service aces.

As a team, USI finished with 62 kills, 61 assists, 82 digs, eight aces, ten blocks, and a .200 attacking percentage. The Panthers earned 55 kills, 51 assists, 73 digs, nine aces, six blocks, and a .140 hitting percentage.