BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University capped off the 2009 Appalachian Invitational in thrilling fashion earning its first home win of the 2009 campaign, defeating Tennessee Tech 3-1 Saturday evening. ASU (2-4) now leads the all-time series between the two squads, 3-2.
ASU took an early 8-5 advantage in first set action and extended its advantage to as many as five points (10 - 5) with strong play coming from freshman Kelsey Kuehner and junior Lauren Swecker.
Kasey Sauls recorded a service ace to push the Mountaineers to an impressive 13-7 lead.
Appalachian held its five point cushion, as two block assists by Norris and Swecker and a solo block by Norris pushed the Apps to their largest lead of the set at 19-10.
A solo block by Sauls, a Golden Eagle error and a kill by Maja Jechorek gave the Black and Gold the 25-14 first set win.
It would be the tale of two teams in the second set as ASU came out sluggish and found itself in a 7-4 hole early. That would be the story of the second set as ASU could not hang with its counterpart.
Three points would be the margin of deficit for the majority of the beginning of the set until back to back errors by the Mountaineers proved to be costly, giving the Golden Eagles a 12-7 advantage.
A 7-1 run with an ace by Leah Meffert and kills by Amanda Lindgren and Teresa Craig put the Apps in a double-digit hole down by 11.
The Golden Eagles continued with the offensive assault and evened the match at one apiece, earning the 25-13 set win.
The Mountaineers picked up their play in the third set and the two squads proved to be evenly matched with the score tied 11 times and three lead changes.
ASU rallied from a 15-12 deficit to push the score to 21-18 with kills coming from Jechorek and Sedon, along with Kelly Rhien and Sedon collaborating for a block assist and Sauls chipping in as well with an ace.
Kuehner gave the Apps the push they needed tallying a kill and combining for a block assist with Norris to give ASU the 25-21 victory and 2-1 match lead.
The fourth set was a battle, but the Golden Eagles slowly pulled away from the Apps earning a five point advantage at the 16-11 mark.
Big kills by Kuehner and Kelly Rhein and an error by TTU helped ASU creep back into the match down just 16-14. Appalachian tied the set at 19 apiece and went ahead one with a Jechorek slam.
The two squads continued to battle with the score knotted at 27 apiece, but Kuehner came up big once again earning an ace to put ASU one away from match point.
Norris and Sauls took the Apps home with a block assist to give Appalachian the 29-27 set victory and 3-1 match win.
Appalachian was stout defensively recording a season-high 16 team blocks with Norris leading the charge, crushing her old career-high of three block assists, talling eight against the Golden Eagles. Three Apps finished the contest in the double-digit kill column with both Kuehner and Norris recording career-highs.
As for Tennessee Tech, Meffert had a game-high 17 kills while Culp recorded a game-high 50 assists.
The Mountaineers look to carry their momentum into next weekend's action, as they travel to Rock Hill, S.C. to compete at the Hilton Garden Invite hosted by Winthrop. Appalachian's first match is set for Friday September 11 against host Winthrop at 7:30 p.m.
APPALACHIAN INVITATIONAL ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Lauren Powell (W&M, MVP)
Lindsey Pflugner (W&M)
Erin Skipper (W&M)
Kaley Read (UNF)
Danielle Lerch (UNF)
Becca Norris (ASU)
Katie Kenline (TTU)
