WVU Rolls Past Tennessee Tech

Friday, September 8

Dayton, Ohio

11:00 a.m.

West Virginia University

5-2

Tennessee Tech

2-5

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Tennessee Tech	19	13	14	0
West Virginia	25	25	25	3

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

September 08, 2017 01:03 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Season Stats

By: Ashley Bailey

FAIRBORN, Ohio – Recording its third straight win of the season, the West Virginia University volleyball team swept Tennessee Tech, 3-0, to start the Holiday Inn Invitational at Wright State's McLin Gym in Fairborn, Ohio, on Friday. The Mountaineers (5-2, 0-0) took the match from the Golden Eagles (2-5) in set scores of 25-19, 25-13 and 25-14.

West Virginia hit a season-high .425 with six hitters hitting .290 or better. Sophomore outside hitter Payton Caffrey led the way with 11 kills, hitting .308 in the process. Senior middle blocker Mia Swanegan and sophomore outside hitter Katelyn Evans had eight kills each, with Swanegan hitting .889 in the process. Freshman middle blocker Katie DeMeo hit .556 with five kills, while sophomore Natania Levak added five kills as well. Senior outside hitter Morgan Montgomery finished with a 1.000 attacking percentage to go with four kills.

Caffrey, DeMeo and Evans each notched a pair of blocks. Senior defensive specialist Taylor Cross led the floor defense with eight digs, followed by Caffey's six. Freshman defensive specialist Lindsay Proctor and freshman libero Alexa Hasting added four digs apiece.

Sophomore Erin Slinde and senior Emma Anderson split time at setter, Slinde dished out 26 assists, with Anderson added 11 assists and a block. Slinde, Proctor and freshman defensive specialist Ava Richards each had an ace.

West Virginia finished with 43 kills and seven blocks. Led by Shealene Little's nine kills, Tennessee Tech hit .049 with 25 kills and a pair of blocks.

"We're just taking things one point at a time," coach Reed Sunahara said. "We did some nice things, but there are always some things to work on. Everyone made it into the rotation at some point, so it was a good opportunity to see here we are."

Hitting .367 behind nine kills from Caffrey, West Virginia handily claimed the first set 25-19. The Mountaineers used kills from Caffrey and DeMeo on their way to an early 4-0 lead. Tennessee Tech rallied to come within one at 7-6, but West Virginia took six of the next seven points for a 13-7 advantage on a Caffrey kill. West Virginia let the Golden Eagles back into the set with three straight errors, but Caffrey found the court to win the frame and give WVU the 1-0 lead in the match.

Despite a rocky start, the Mountaineers were able to pull it together to hit .484 with 17 kills in the second set for a 25-13 win. Tennessee Tech used an ace and a pair of WVU hitting errors for a 5-0 lead before the Mountaineers called timeout. A Caffrey kill got things back on track after the stoppage, and WVU quickly used kills from Levak, Evans and Swanegan to cut the deficit to one, down 8-7. A TTU attacking error tied the score at 8-8 started a run that saw the Mountaineers take seven straight points. Back-to-back kills from Caffrey, then Swanegan, put WVU at a 14-9 advantage. Caffrey added consecutive kills later in the set before DeMeo set up set point at 24-12. Tennessee Tech extended the set with a kill before freshman Chloe Klusman put down a kill for the win, giving WVU a 2-0 lead in the match.

The reserves took over the third set, hitting .421 with a pair of blocks as WVU claimed the 25-14 win. Levak put West Virginia on top early, 3-1, with a kill. Tennessee Tech had five straight attacking errors, including a block by Anderson, in helping West Virginia to a 14-7 lead. Freshman middle Briana Lynch added a late kill before Evans matched her feat. Richards served an ace before the Mountaineers were able to capitalize on four straight Golden Eagle errors, winning the set 25-14 on an attacking error to record their third sweep of the season.

West Virginia returns to the court at 6 p.m. to face Harvard (0-3). The Mountaineers close out play in Ohio on Saturday with a 3 p.m. match at host Wright State (2-4).