Isringhausen's career day guides Golden Eagles past Morehead State
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Another strong showing from the offense and team-wide effort on defense was plenty enough to lift the Tennessee Tech volleyball team past Morehead State Saturday evening, as the Golden Eagles officially opened Ohio Valley Conference play 2-0 with a 3-1 win in the Hooper Eblen Center.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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18 | 25 | 13 | 23 | 1 |
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25 | 18 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
Team Stats
Morehead State
| Game Statistics | Morehead State | Tennessee Tech |
|---|---|---|
| Hitting % | .139 | .205 |
| Blocks | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| Digs | 55 | 69 |
| Aces | 3 | 3 |
By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Another strong showing from the offense and team-wide effort on defense was plenty enough to lift the Tennessee Tech volleyball team past Morehead State Saturday evening, as the Golden Eagles officially opened Ohio Valley Conference play 2-0 with a 3-1 win in the Hooper Eblen Center.
The purple and gold (13-1, 2-0) used 56 kills, 69 digs, and 6.0 total blocks to register their fourth win over the visiting Eagles (5-8, 1-1) in the squads' last five meetings. Tech's only other such stretch of success against its longtime rivals occurred from 1997-2000, when the Golden Eagles won seven out of eight match-ups with Morehead State.
It was that aggressive attack that the Cookeville crew put on full display in the opening set, taking an early 10-5 lead and holding the Eagles at least four points away the rest of the way to a 25-18 win. Tech piled up 16 strikes with a .314 attack in the victory, limiting Morehead State to just nine of its own.
The visitors flipped the script in set two, snapping a 4-4 stalemate and keeping the Golden Eagle offense at bay. Morehead State evened the match with a 25-18 win of its own, as Tech struggled with consistency on the attack, posting 11 kills to 10 errors.
Tech put the uneven set out of its sights, responding with a dominant, 25-13 blowout in the third game. Blasting 17 kills behind a .441 hitting percentage, the Golden Eagles made just two errors on swings in the set while holding the Eagles to just six kills.
The fourth and decisive set was a battle from start to finish, with neither side ever able to push out front by more than two points until the Cookeville crew took a 22-19 lead. The Golden Eagles held on down the stretch, inking a 25-23 win.
Senior outside hitter Madolyn Isringhausen provided the final exclamation points on the match, firing back-to-back kills to secure the victory and a career evening. The Edwardsville, Ill. native racked up a career-high-tying 25 kills in the match, crushing .353 with an ace, seven digs, and two blocks.
Isringhausen's performance tied for the fourth-most terminations in a four-set match in the rally-scoring era in Tech history, matching a pair of efforts by Cody Dodd in 2015, a pair from Laura Sidorowicz in 2003 and 2004, and one by Maggie Stern in 2002. The showing saw the Tech veteran move past Stern (1999-02) on the program's all-time career kills list as well, moving to fifth with 1,395. She also passed Amanda Lindgren for fifth in career points with 1,638.0.
Chipping in to the strong night, freshman outside Alayna Pierce produced 10 strikes while messing around and leading the match with a career-high 19 digs. It marked the rookie's second double-double of the year.
Securing her seventh double-double of 2024, setter Jordan Karlen tallied 37 assists and 16 digs to continue her strong season. Senior outside Bella Powell totaled nine kills and six digs while senior libero McKenna Young scooped up 15 digs and doled out seven helpers.
The Golden Eagles continue their homestand with a pair of 2:00 p.m. CT tilts against Western Illinois next Thursday and Friday in the Hooper Eblen Center.
Photo by Jim Dillon
