A pair of losses underscored a solid day of work for the Tennessee Tech beach volleyball team Saturday, as the Golden Eagles showed more growth and positives on their second day of Ohio Valley Conference action in Chattanooga.
The purple and gold fell in the first match-up of the day to the league’s preseason favorite UT Martin. The Skyhawks turned in a 5-0 win, but provided valuable lessons for the Tech squad to take into the second tilt of the day.
“The scores today were not indicative of how well we played today,” Tech head coach Zach Weinberg said. “We learned a ton about ourselves in our match against UT Martin that we carried into the match against Chattanooga.”
Squaring off with weekend host and preseason No. 2 Chattanooga, the Golden Eagles left it all on the sand, falling by a narrow margin of 3-2. After the Mocs took the opening point, Tech responded by evening things at 1-1.
New partners McKenna Young and Morgan Gish showed strong results in the No. 4 spot, combining for a straight-set victory over Halle Olson and Grace Frigaard. The Golden Eagle combo turned in a 21-17 victory in set one before outlasting the UTC duo in the second set, 25-23.
While the Mocs pulled away for a 3-1 lead, the purple and gold did salvage the fifth point, with another new combo providing the win. Jordan Karlen and Bella Powell edged Julia Davis and Madi Morris in the No. 3 position, taking the opening set handily with a 21-8 score. The Mocs answered with a 21-19 set two win, but the Karlen/Powell duo came out on top in the third set, 15-11.
“We’ve been preaching all season long that we need to be comfortable playing with anyone, so it was great to see Bella/Jordan and McKenna/Morgan play together for the first time this season and pull away with gritty wins. Now, we turn our attention to a rematch with an undefeated Carson Newman team that we’ve had circled on our calendar for a long time.”
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