Freshman Falk powers Tech to win over Tennessee State
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The name Tuva Falk may not have gained notoriety in the Ohio Valley Conference yet, but Tennessee State certainly felt her impact on Saturday as the Tennessee Tech freshman put on an impressive showing, leading the Golden Eagles to a 3-1 victory over TSU at the Hooper Eblen Center. Falk finished the day with a career-high 13 kills on 29 swings, hitting .414 in the contest. She also had five assisted blocks to end the day with 15.5 total points.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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24 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
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26 | 11 | 14 | 15 | 1 |
Team Stats
Tennessee State
| Game Statistics | Tennessee State | Tennessee Tech |
|---|---|---|
| Hitting % | 0.096 | 0.278 |
| Blocks | 4 | 6 |
| Digs | 70 | 76 |
| Aces | 4 | 9 |
By Thomas Corhern, TTU Athletics Media Relations
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The name Tuva Falk may not have gained notoriety in the Ohio Valley Conference yet, but Tennessee State certainly felt her impact on Saturday as the Tennessee Tech freshman put on an impressive showing, leading the Golden Eagles to a 3-1 victory over TSU at the Hooper Eblen Center.
Falk finished the day with a career-high 13 kills on 29 swings, hitting .414 in the contest. She also had five assisted blocks to end the day with 15.5 total points.
Bella Powell had a double-double in place in the second set, ending the outing with 15 kills on 35 attacks for a .314 clip, three service aces, 22 digs and two blocks. Jordan Karlen ended the match with 40 assists and 11 digs for a double-double as well, while MK Roberts had 19 digs and Ella Watford 10 to go with three service aces and three assists.
Tech improves to 7-11 overall and 4-2 in the OVC, while Tennessee State continues to look for its first league victory, 1-19 overall and 0-7 in the league.
Maygan Miller-Garcia led TSU with 10 kills, a solo block and an assisted block, while Carsyn Stansberry had seven kills, two service aces, three digs and an assisted block. Erini Bitsaktsi had 22 digs to lead the way, while Sagaia Reilly had 24 assists.
Tennessee State came out on a mission and led nearly the entire first set with 10 tie scores, the last time at 24-24 as an attack error on the Tigers knotted the set. A Tech service error put TSU back on top, then Miller-Garcia collected the kill to give TSU the 26-24 win in the opening set.
The Tigers also seemed to shake up a hornet nest as the Golden Eagles dominated the next three sets – 25-11, 25-14 and 25-15 – as Tech collected extended stays on the serve.
In set two, Powell was up for five straight, Watford for 12 straight and Brooklyn Rapp for a trio. Powell collected seven kills and eight digs in the second set. Watford had three service aces, then Powell had three straight aces in the third.
The third saw Watford on three straight serves, Falk on four, Powell for four and Roberts for six. The Tigers were stymied by seven attack errors, five service errors and three reception errors as Tech only had 10 kills in the set.
Falk closed the door in the fourth as she had five kills on 10 swings and two assisted blocks, while Alayna Pierce had four and Ayanna Rodgers three to prevent any chance of a TSU recovery. Watford had another six-rally tenure on the serve to break the Tigers' early momentum.
The Golden Eagles return to action on the road this Thursday and Friday as they head to Morehead State for a pair. Tech faces the Eagles Thursday at 6 p.m. Central, 3 p.m. on Friday.
Photo | Jim Dillon
