Tech Volleyball Confident Ahead Of Senior Night

The Tech Volleyball Team opens up a four-game home stand Friday night when they take on Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Junior setter Jordan Karlen said it could not have come at a better time. The 17-7 Golden Eagles have fallen on hard times as of late, going 2-6 in their last eight outings. Karlen said she believes the team has broken through into a new headspace and believes not having to travel for the next week and a half will be beneficial.

“I think that’s going to be absolutely amazing,” Karlen said. “We get to practice where we play and we get that extra day of preparing for the game. Just the normalcy of sleeping in your own bed and picking the food that you wan to eat instead of being on the road and not knowing exactly where you’re at.”

With their last game being a win that snapped a three-game skid, Karlen said she is confident that the midseason lull is over. She said that the team knows where they need to improve and are working tirelessly to shore up mistakes.

“We have been really, really grinding in the gym to pick up our defense and really fight through the plays,” Karlen said. “I think, where we lacked a little but was just the longer rallies. In our gym we are very terminal, we run a great offense and I think our attackers do a really good job of terminating that first ball and having a really high outside percentage. Although when the rallies do go a little bit longer, we start to get fatigued.”

She said that the while the offensive woes have been apparent, she is confident that the recent practices have bolstered their conditioning and decision making. With just six regular season games remaining, time is ticking on the Golden Eagle seniors’ playing careers.

Tech will be honoring their seniors after the 2pm Saturday match. Karlen said the eight seniors have all established a high culture for the team and the underclassmen want to send them out the right way in these last four home games.

“The juniors, sophomores and then our class of four freshman have really done a great job of picking up where they can,” Karlen said. “And just honoring the seniors as they finish up the last part of the season.”