NASHVILLE — The Tennessee State volleyball team used a balanced attack on defense and around the net to take down the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles 3-1 (25-20, 25-23, 18-25, 25-14) Friday at Kean Hall .
The win was the sixth straight at home and moved the Tigers' record to 8-10 overall and 2-3 in OVC play.
The Tigers offense was paced by Celestial Miller, who finished with 17 kills on the day while accumulating a hitting percentage of .467. Johanna Alcantara added 15 and Aleksandra Rojecka chipped in with 10 to pace the TSU attack. Defensively, the Tigers had two players reach double figures in digs as Gina Rivera-Ortiz had 24 and Carla Boudal had 11. From the front row, Gabrielle Johnson contributed seven blocks and Rojecka added six rejections.
How It Happened
SET 1 | The Tigers took set one 25-20 powered by a solid showing on the attacking side. TSU went on a 5-0 run before the media timeout to take a led for good in the set. Tennessee State put together a .324 attack percentage, with Miller pacing them swinging at at .625 clip. with 16 kills in the set victory. On defense, Carla Boudal had six digs The Tigers opened up a 23-15 lead in the stanza and coasted to victory from there. Tennessee State also supplemented their offense with three aces in the opening set.
SET 2 | Tennessee State won the highly competitive second set 25-23 to promptly jump to a 2-0 lead. The Tigers survived a back-and-forth set to win in a stanza that featured two lead changes and was tied eight times. Neither team led by more than four points along the way. After a TSU timeout with Tech up 19-20, Alcantara converted two straight kills to tie the game at 21 and the Tigers never looked back. Tennessee State's front row had a solid defensive performance, blocking six Tennessee Tech attacks forcing a .083 hitting percentage in the stanza.
SET 3 | Tennessee Tech avoided an early loss with a set-three win to make it a 2-1 match. The Tigers lost a tough set 25-18. Tennessee State trailed by as many as seven points as Tennessee Tech grabbed the advantage for good at 6-5 in a set that was tied up five times before the Golden Eagles took over the lead. Three TSU service errors along with three services aces by Tech hurt the Tigers in the set.
SET 4 | Tennessee State then responded to claim the match win with a 25-14 fourth-set victory. A solid showing on the attacking side led the Tigers to victory in the set. Tennessee State registered a .452 attack percentage with 17 kills in the set win. Miller was especially huge coming up with six kills. The Tigers ended on a strong note, stretching their lead to its largest point in the set to finish out the stanza. Tennessee State got a solid defensive performance from a front row that blocked four Tennessee Tech attacks in the stanza.
Game Notes
» Tennessee State had three players in double figures in kills.
» Gabrielle Johnson had a team-high one ace in the win.
» Celestial Miller had a match-high 17 kills for Tennessee State.
» Tennessee State got a match-high 24 digs from Gina Rivera-Ortiz.
» Tennessee State attackers were helped by a team-high 25 assists from Sofia Garcia-Guerrios.
Up Next
TSU hits the road for a weekend series at Morehead State on October 6 and 7.
