THE SEASON GOES ON! Tennessee Tech Volleyball Takes The 2008 Ohio Valley Conference Crown

Story from TTUSports.com
Herald-Citizen
UC Daily News, Cookeville, Tenn.


COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - "Success is dependent on effort."

It seems the Tennessee Tech volleyball team knows this proverb first hand.

In a hard fought match Saturday, the Golden Eagles put out a huge effort, and now have the 2008 Ohio Valley Conference crown to prove it. The 3-2 victory over the Murray State Racers now vaults Tech into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997.

Tournament MVP Kappy Lang led the way with 62 assists, 13 digs, four kills, and two service aces. Four in purple-and-white reached double-figures in the kills stat box. Amanda Lindgren had 20 herself. She was followed by OVC Player of the Year Leah Meffert, who had 16. Marie Peddicord totaled 15 kills, and Jessica Asplund followed her with 13.

By the end of the first set, it was clear that the fight for the 2008 OVC tourney championship was going to be a tightly-contested matter. The Racers jumped out to win the first set of the match by a 25-23 score. Tech rallied back to take sets two and three by the scores of 25-15 and 25-20 respectively. Murray State came back to win set four by a final score of 26-24. It then all came down to the grudge-match in set five, where Murray kept it tied on several occasions up to an 11-11 score. The Golden Eagles then found an opportunity to open the score up in their favor.

Asplund and Caitlin Bullock hit back-to-back kills to make the score go to 13-11 in Tech's favor. Murray's Logan Sue then scored a point on a kill to run the score to 13-12. Racer Becca Lamb committed an error to put the score at 14-12.

That set up the deciding score of the match.

Teresa Craig served to restart action, and after a short time of bouncing on either side of the net, Lang got assist number 62 on the night, and got the ball to Lindgren. She proceeded to crush the ball onto the Racer side of the court for her 20th kill, and the championship-clincher.

OVC Defensive Player of the Year Katie Kenline was another achiever in the match for Tech with 21 digs.

Leading the way for Murray State were Sara Hayden with 17 kills, Jade Guo with 45 assists, and Kayleah Sauer with 24 digs.

The victory represents the first conference championship for OVC Coach of the Year John Blair and Assistant Coach Jessica Lane. It follows a sweeping of the Austin Peay Lady Govs in the OVC Semifinals Friday. Tech won that match by the scores of 25-12, 25-22, and 25-21.

The tournament victories follow a 17-11 regular season for the Golden Eagles, in which they went 14-4 in conference play. That was good enough for OVC regular season co-championship honors, a first-round bye through the tournament, and the right to host the event at the Eblen Center in Cookeville.

Next on the schedule for the NCAA Tourney-bound Golden Eagles is a pre-tourney event in Louisville against the Cardinals. That match is set to be played on Saturday at 1 PM. The NCAAs are scheduled to begin on Thursday, December 4th, but place and time are still unknown. Those will be determined in the selection this Sunday.

GO TECH!

McCain-Palin Rally In Cookeville A Great Success!

An estimated 125 attend event at Tennessee Tech to boost GOP ticket.

A successful rally for the GOP Presidential ticket was held Monday night on the campus of Tennessee Tech University. A good-sized crowd showed up to show their support for Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin, and to hear several guest speakers talk about their enthusiasm for the ticket, and for the candidates running in the Volunteer State.

The event was held in the Roaden University Center on TTU's campus, which is located in Cookeville, about midway between the cities of Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga, and on Interstate 40. The TTU College Republicans, the Tennessee Women For McCain, and the Putnam County Republican Party were the chief sponsors of the event.

Yours truly, who also is blest to be leading the College Republicans chapter at TTU, decided to take a head-count, which I estimated to be near 125. The crowd was definitely excited to be there, and listened to several guest speakers, which included Beth Campbell, Randy Stamps, and Jonathan Bryant. Mike Callahan, a Executive Committee member from the 15th State Senatorial District, was the Master of Ceremonies.

Yours truly, Jordan Iwanyszyn, opened the event in leading the Pledge of Allegiance, which was followed by an opening prayer. Then, I came back up and offered words of welcome, brought notice to the sponsoring groups, and included a statement on why I back the GOP ticket. I then introduced Callahan, who was responsible for introducing the guest speakers. Campbell was the first of the three to speak. She is the president of the Tennessee Women For McCain, and she spoke on why women should back the ticket. She was followed by Stamps, who is the Executive Director of the Tennessee Republican Party. He also spoke to women, and mentioned how the Democrats seem to dislike women in power, using the examples of the disrespect shown to Hillary Clinton from Senator Barack Obama's campaign, and closing the door on Tennessee State Senator Rosalind Kurita's re-election effort.

Kurita represents a district centered around Clarksville, near Fort Campbell, and angered many state Democrats when she decided to cast a vote in favor of now Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey for that position. Ramsey is the first Republican Lt. Governor since Reconstruction, and Kurita's was a deciding vote in that choice. Kurita faced a tough re-election in a primary against challenger Tim Barnes, and won the primary by 19 votes. However, Tennessee Democratic Party officials met just over a week ago, and decided to give the primary victory to Barnes. Kurita will challenge in a write-in campaign.

Stamps mentioned those two examples as proof that the Democrats are not as favorable to women as they preach, and he said that Governor Palin, and Tennessee State Representative Candidate Terri Lynn Weaver are two women that prove the Republicans are the party favorable to women. Stamps also talked about the state of the battle for the Tennessee State Legislature, in which the GOP currently has the same number of seats as the Dems in the Senate, with one independent. In the state house, the GOP needs four seats to retake the majority for only the second time since Reconstruction. Stamps tried to rally the attendees into supporting local candidates for the state legislature.

Following Stamps was Bryant, who is a former Chairman of the Tennessee College Republicans, and is now working for the Lamar Alexander for U.S. Senate campaign. He spoke on his excitement of being a Republican, and of the ticket that represents the party this election cycle. He also mentioned younger Republican voters, and themed his address towards them.

The attendance was made up of people of all kinds. Young children to aged men, upper middle class to poorer class, and numerous men and women. Other notables in attendance other than the speakers were Noble Cody, a former mayor of Cookeville and a member of the Tennessee Tech Sports Hall of Fame for his basketball days there; Steve Moore, a former trainer at TTU and another member of the TTU Sports Hall of Fame; Phil Wilbourn, a former TTU baseball player; and Howie Acuff, a local attorney and 2006 candidate for the Tennessee House of Representatives.

Following are photos from the exciting night:


People begin to gather before the event begins.

The growing crowd takes to their seats minutes before the event gets under way.

Attendees make their way into the room past the sign-in table.

The scene after the event has begun, and after I had said a few words.

The crowd of 125 listens as Beth Campbell of Tennessee Women For McCain speaks.

Randy Stamps of the Tennessee Republican Party gives his take.

Former Tennessee College Republican President Jonathan Bryant addresses the audience.

A gathering of the evening's speakers. From left to right: Jordan M. Iwanyszyn (yours truly), President, Tennessee Tech University College Republicans; Randy Stamps, Executive Director, Tennessee Republican Party; Beth Campbell, Chairman, Tennessee Women For McCain; Mike Callahan, Tennessee Republican Party Executive Committee Member, 15th Senatorial District; and Jonathan Bryant, Field Representative, Lamar Alexander For U.S. Senate campaign.

A Busy Weekend Is Approaching For Tennessee Tech University

Derryberry Hall, administrative building for Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, Tennessee. http://www.tntech.edu/univadv/support/images/Derryberry.jpg

Tennessee Tech University, a well-accredited university settled in Cookeville, Tennessee, will be a busy place this coming weekend as it hosts four different events.

The action starts Thursday as the campus will be the host to the 2008 SAE Baja East race, which is a competition featuring small off-road cars built by engineering students by participating universities. I understand that there will be nearly 100 teams from eight countries participating in the TTU race. With that, 1,000 people are expected to participate, excluding countless spectators. The competition will last through Saturday.

On Friday, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, Tennessee Congressmen Bart Gordon of Murfreesboro and Lincoln Davis of Pall Mall, as well as other dignitaries, students, faculty and local residents are all expected to be a part of the groundbreaking of Ray Morris Hall, home to Tennessee Tech's new proposed Millard Oakley STEM Center. This will be the hub of the university's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics departments for the future. The groundbreaking is scheduled for 3 PM at Seventh Street and Stadium Drive.

Saturday is scheduled to be the largest commencement in university history. Nearly 1,200 students are to receive their degrees in a ceremony scheduled for 10 AM. Tech is to host another dignitary at this time, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander from Tennessee, who is the third-highest ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate. He is to address the spring graduates of the university. This is to take place at the Eblen Center.

Also on Saturday, the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles baseball team is scheduled to host the Murray State Racers for a doubleheader. The action on the diamond has a planned starting time of 2 PM.

On Saturday alone, three events will be taking place. As such, parking is expected to be a major concern to tackle. A shuttle bus will run from needed areas to help calm the parking issues.

You can expect this writer to be a part of the action, as he is an active part of the university as a student, an extra-curricular organization leader, and a worker with the school's sports information department.

Article on this weekend's action from the Tennessee Tech Public Affairs Department.