Golden Eagles begin quest for NCAA Championship in Dayton
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Tech volleyball team played
its first tournament in Ohio earlier this season, and Friday the
Golden Eagles will begin their biggest tournament of the season in
the same state.
After claiming the OVC's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament,
the Golden Eagles journey to Dayton, Ohio, for the first round.
Tech will face No. 16 Tulane Friday at 4 p.m. CST, and with a
victory will advance to play the Dayton/Western Michigan winner on
Saturday.
"This is probably one of our best matchups we could have hoped
for," said head coach John Blair. "I think we match up well with
all of the teams in the first and second rounds. They should all be
good matches."
Tech meets the Green Wave for the first time in 30 years when the
two schools face off in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Tulane took that last match, 2-0, in the old format of match
scoring. This season, Tulane is 27-5 and making its first NCAA
Tournament appearance in program history.
The two teams have one opponent in common this season -- the Green
Wave picked up a win over Marshall, 3-0, while Tech fell to the
Thundering Herd by that same score.
Sara Radosevic leads Tulane this season on the offensive side of
the net with 417 kills while hitting .216. Radosevic also leads the
team in service aces with 36 and is second on the team in digs with
313.
It has been two years since Tech has faced the WMU Broncos. It was
the first tournament of the season back in 2006 when the Golden
Eagles fell, 3-0.
The Broncos are coming off a regular season final loss to
Valparaiso, but received an at-large bid into the national
tournament. Currently 26-6, Western Michigan also only had one home
loss all season while matching the Golden Eagles' 14 conference
wins. Michelle Moore leads the team with 470 kills on the season
while hitting .239.
Jaime Gotham controls the defensive side of the court with 103
block assists and 114 total blocks. Four players for the Broncos
have more than 250 digs on the season including libero Caitlin
Strimel.
Tech last met the Dayton Flyers three seasons ago in coach John
Blair's second season with the Golden Eagles. Although it was a
loss, Tech did pick up a win over Dayton in 1982, with a 3-0
sweep.
Dayton is making its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance
while the Golden Eagles are making their second. Dayton this season
lost to St. Louis in the A-10 Tournament and then fell to Ohio
University to head into the NCAA tournament on a two-match losing
skid. With a balanced offense, Lindsay Fletemier leads the team
with 391 kills while also stuffing 125 total blocks including 100
block assists.
