Cookville, TN - WIU volleyball lost in a five set nail biter this afternoon to Tennessee Tech. After having a quiet offensive performance yesterday, the Leathernecks responded in a big way. WIU had 58 kills as a team with Keyana Cruse finishing the match with 21 while Brittany Wulf and Elizabeth Ziegler added 12 and 11 kills respectively. Maggie Craker would have another solid performance finishing with 45 assists to lead the Leatherneck offense. Defensively, the Leathernecks had 11 blocks as a team and Keyana Cruse led in digs with 19.
In set one, Tennessee Tech would jump out to a 12-7 lead early. Back-to-back kills by Brittany Wulf and Keyana Cruse would help WIU go on a quick 4-1 run to cut the Golden Eagle lead to just 13-11. The set would be back-and-forth the rest of the way with the Leathernecks tying the set several times. A kill by Hillary Estes tied the set at 19-19, followed by a Keyana Cruse kill that tied the set once again at 20-20. The Golden Eagles would go on a 3-1 run to end the first set winning by a score of 26-24.
In set two, the Leathernecks would trail for most of the set, including being down by a score of 20-14 late. Keyana Cruse would get a kill to make it 20-15 and then back-to-back attack errors by Tennessee Tech gave the Leathernecks life trailing 20-17. A Brittany Wulf kill followed by a block from Maggie Craker and Julianna Schmidt would force a Golden Eagle timeout with the score being 23-22 in favor of Tennessee Tech. Immediately after the timeout, Julianna Schmidt and Keyana Cruse would deny the Golden Eagles at the net tying the set at 23-23. Back-to-back kills by Grace Kremer and Keyana Cruse a few plays later would give the Leathernecks the second set win by a score of 26-24.
Set three was controlled the whole way by Tennessee Tech as they went up 11-4 early and never let their foot off the gas. The Leathernecks would get as close as 16-10, but the Golden Eagles would have another big run late in the set to take the set by a score of 25-18.
Set four saw back-to-back kills early by Elizabeth Ziegler that would fuel a 5-0 run for WIU giving them the set lead at 8-6. Tennessee Tech would respond by going on a run of their own taking the lead at 12-10. Back-to-back kills from Keyana Cruse would help WIU tie the set at 13-13 and they would never look back after that. Elizabeth Ziegler would have another big kill that would give the Leathernecks a lead and would fuel another big run. Back-to-back blocks by Grace Kremer and Elizabeth Ziegler would give WIU an 18-14 advantage and they would go on to take the fourth set by a score of 25-21.
In set five, Tennessee Tech was able to use an early 8-2 run and took the set by a score of 15-7.
The Leathernecks will play on Thursday and Friday of next week hosting Eastern Illinois inside Western Hall. Thursday's match will be at 6 p.m. followed by Friday's match which will be played at 4 p.m.
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