CHARLESTON, Ill.- University of Southern Indiana Volleyball picks up the win over No. 6 Tennessee Tech University to advance to the semifinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament on Sunday afternoon.
In the program’s second appearance in the tournament in school history, the Screaming Eagles took the win in a four-set battle. The game marked the third time USI has met the Golden Eagles this season, after splitting a home-and-away series 1-1.
In the winningest season in the program’s Division I era, USI moves to a 19-12 overall record and 15th win against an OVC opponent.
Set 1: TTU 25, USI 21
The Screaming Eagles kicked off the first set in their OVC Tournament run in a tough-fought battle with the Golden Eagles. The two teams engaged in a back-and-forth fight to take control of the lead, but TTU managed to pull away with a three-point run to reach 15 points first. Carley Wright, who is the league’s Freshman of the Week, started her first postseason match, adding four kills to the board. OVC Freshman of the Year, Aysa Thomas, kicked off her game with 10 assists and six digs.
Set 2: USI 25, TTU 23
USI bounced back in the second set, keeping pressure on TTU from the service line, the Eagles were able to start breaking down the Golden Eagles’ offense. Senior Bianca Anderson took charge of the USI offense, adding four kills and a block. Junior Ashby Willis remained error less through the second set, doubling her kill count with three more. Willis also led the serve game with two aces and pushed the Eagles ahead with a six-point serving run.
Set 3: USI 25, TTU 22
The USI offense boasted its most efficient set of the game in the third set, hitting a .310 percent for 18 kills and five errors as a team. After going back and forth with control of the lead, Thomas put together an eight-point serving run to push the Eagles to set-point and finish out the frame. Wright had her most successful set, with seven kills, hitting a .583 percent, and added two blocks to help shut down the TTU offense. Sophomore Kerigan Fehr added her name to the digs board, picking up five.
Set 4: USI 25, TTU 19
USI closed out the win with a set that the squad had to fight point-to-point for control of the lead until the Screaming Eagles broke away after the media timeout at 15-14. Right side Wright added five more kills to the board, followed by Anderson with three. Thomas snuck two kills across the net, and dished six assists out. With three blocks as a team, the Eagles were able to keep the TTU offense to their least efficient set of the game.
For the game, the No. 3 Screaming Eagles added 61 team digs, 55 kills, eight blocks, and six aces to take down the Golden Eagles, finishing out the 2025 season two wins to one against TTU. Three USI players finished with double-digit kills, led by Wright, who tied her career-high with 18 kills. Anderson followed Wright with 12 kills, hitting a .333, the All-OVC Second Team selection remained one of the most efficient on the court. All-OVC First Team selection, Willis hit 11 kills, with just one error in the match, for a .256 hitting percentage.
Continuing her Freshman of the Year level performance, Thomas added her 22nd double-double of the season with 39 assists, 20 digs, and four kills. This match marks just the second game this season that the setter has picked up 20 or more digs.
Sophomore Audrey Small added 21 digs to lead both sides of the net on defense. The USI block game was split between Wright, Anderson, and OVC leader in blocks, McKenzie Murphy, as they each added four block assists.
