THURSDAY'S SCORE
@Tennessee Tech 3, UT Martin 2
TENNESSEE TECH 3, UT MARTIN 2
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee Tech put together a reverse sweep on Thursday night as UT Martin took the first two sets in the Hooper Eblen Center, but the Golden Eagles stormed back to sweep the third, fourth and fifth sets to take a 3-2 victory.
It was a career-high night for several Golden Eagles as Tech (8-13, 5-4 Ohio Valley Conference) collected 85 digs in all, led by a career-high 25 for MK Roberts, who also posted a personal best for service aces with seven of Tech's one-timers. Ella Watford, Mallory Jenkins and Brooklyn Rapp also collected the most digs in their careers with 14, three and 10, respectively.
Bella Powell ended the match with 24 kills to lead both sides, while Alayna Pierce – 17 kills and 11 digs – and Jordan Karlen – 60 assists and 10 digs – both collected double-doubles in the match. Karlen was three digs away from tying her personal best of 63 set last year at Western Illinois.
UT Martin (2-18, 1-8 OVC) had three players with double-doubles as Kayla Bryant had 19 kills and 18 digs, Kylie Surratt had 14 kills and 12 digs, while Ava Peters had 39 assists and 13 digs.
The first two sets went into extra points as UTM won the first series 26-24. The Skyhawks led 24-20 but Tech claimed four straight rallies on a Karlen kill, a Powell kill, a Karlen ace and a block by Berkebile and Ayanna Rodgers to knot the match at 24 until UTM picked up the last two points.
In the second set, the Golden Eagles had an 11-6 lead but the Skyhawks soared back, tying the match at 12 and taking an 18-14 lead on a 12-3 run. The set saw 11 ties and three lead changes as UTM finished the set off in extra points with a 30-28 Skyhawk win to give them a 2-0 lead.
Tech had 21 attack errors and nine service errors in the first two sets, but the Golden Eagles were able to slow those down with nine attack errors and two service miscues in the third, eight attack errors and two service errors in the fourth, then four attack errors and no service errors in the race to 15.
The Golden Eagles jumped out in the third set and never trailed, using a 7-1 run to taka 14-8 lead. The Skyhawks scored seven of the next nine points for a 16-15 Tech advantage, then the Golden Eagles held on to a 25-22 win.
The result went to Tech in the fourth set, tying the match with another 25-22 win. The Golden Eagles led by as many as nine points – including a 21-12 edge – but the Skyhawks were able to cut the deficit down to two at 24-22 before Powell clinched the set with a kill.
Tech never trailed in the deciding set, scoring the first three points. After the Skyhawks got the set back to one point at 8-7, Tech scored the next four to take a 12-7 lead. UTM cut back to 13-11, but Pierce and Powell got Tech the last two kills it needed to take a 15-12 win for the 3-2 match victory.