Golden Eagles head to final preseason tournament before conference play
September 18, 2014

Golden Eagles head to final preseason tournament before conference play

The Tennessee Tech volleyball team hits the road for their final preseason tournament of the season. The Golden Eagles are heading to the Spartanburg Courtyard Classic where they will face host Wofford, North Carolina A&T, USC Upstate, and Gardner-Webb.

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COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Tech volleyball team hits the road for their final preseason tournament of the season. The Golden Eagles are heading to the Spartanburg Courtyard Classic where they will face host Wofford, North Carolina A&T, USC Upstate, and Gardner-Webb.

On Friday, TTU will open up with the host Terriers with a 2:30 p.m. CT match. They will follow that up with a 5 p.m. showdown with A&T.

The Golden Eagles will open up the second day of play with a 9 a.m. match versus USC Upstate. They will then leave the tournament site on Saturday to travel to Gardner-Webb, where they will close out the tournament with a 2 p.m. match.

"Just like the last two weeks, we play four matches and on top of that challenge we play two-a-day that have no down time in between," head coach Dave Zelenock said of the tournament this weekend. "Our opponents all have an advantage in that they are most likely more rested, have older players on the floor, and aren't playing this demanding of a schedule. So our challenge is to play our system. Wofford is very organized, they hit hard and serve tough, so the challenge is to match their offensive ability and try to slow it down. NC A&T are still learning how to win, so the challenge is to not let them figure out that lesson against us. USC Upstate is a much-improved program that doesn't have that brand name appeal, but they are dangerous because of that. Gardner-Webb, I think, is the most athletic team we will face other than App State who is getting Top-25 votes. We need to play really low error with them and serve really tough to try to neutralize their high fliers."

Know your Golden Eagles (3-8) – Last weekend the Golden Eagles posted wins over Alcorn State and Prairie View, and fell to McNeese State and ULM. Junior Cody Dodd recorded 47 kills while committing just 15 errors on the weekend. She also recorded 14 blocks and 60 points. Senior Courtney Smith led the team with 58 digs over the four matches, reaching double-digits in all four matches. Over the season, the Golden Eagles are blocking their opponents a conference-high 2.1 times per set.

"We need to continue passing well to continue our climb offensively," Zelenock said. "Even in our losses we've been able to pass very well. Courtney (Smith) and Kennedy (Wade) have been very solid for us and Allison Morrett has had a good week of practice so we expect to be able to use her more too. Our outsides are holding their own and Cody Dodd has put up some great passing numbers too. After the passing comes the setting, and we have a good one there. Sharon (Anderson) knows how to move the ball around, she falls in love with a play now and then but she has the ability to really make our offense dynamic. Then comes the hitting, our young hitters are getting better each time we go out, even when they have bad matches we are trying to show them how to fight through a good block or tough defense."

"Obviously Cody is the person who is getting the most attention right now coming off two very good weeks, we expect her to see a lot of double blocks this weekend. Hopefully that helps our outsides get more one-on-one opportunities and allows Cody to prepare for the OVC, where they will for sure be following her around the court. "

Scouting the Terriers (3-6) – The tournament hosts are looking to continue to push their young squad, which lists 10 freshmen. They have been leaning on the arm of senior opposite Taylor Baird, who has had 15+ kills in all but three matches for the Terriers.  Offensively, Wofford is clicking as they are hitting at an impressive team-clip of .227 while putting away 13.4 kills per set, however, they are letting their opponents hit a higher clip of .244. The 116 service errors committed by the Terriers are sure to play a factor.

Scouting the Aggies (0-12) – The Aggies have had a bit of a rough start to open the 2014 season, as they have been held winless so far. A&T's offense has yet to find it's rhythm as they are being held to just a .066 hitting percentage. Defensively, they are registering 1.34 blocks per set, and scooping up 13.09 digs.

Scouting the Spartans (6-4) – The Spartans enter the weekend with a 6-4 record and have won four matches in a row. The start for Upstate is its best since joining Division I, with the last time coming in 2006 when the Spartans began the year with 10 straight victories. Upstate currently ranks in the top 40 nationally in digs, digs per set and attacks per set, and leads the A-Sun in all three of those categories.

Scouting the Bulldogs (3-9) – The Bulldogs are riding a two-game win streak heading into the weekend, having topped Texas State and Charlotte. Gardner-Webb is out-blocking their opponents 2.18 to 1.76. The Bulldogs are maintaining a well-balanced offense as they have five different hitters all averaging two-plus kills per set.