Middle Tennessee Volleyball Places Third at SMS Tourney

Sunday, November 4

12:30 PM

Middle Tennessee

Southwest Missouri State Tournament

Photo by: MT

11/4/2001 9:40:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

By: MT Media Relations

SPRINGFIELD, MO - Middle Tennessee (9-20) volleyball placed third at the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational after losing to host Southwest Missouri State University (20-5) in three 21-30, 22-30, 27-30 Sunday in Hammons Student Center. The Lady Raiders were led by junior Erin Hillstrom who had her fourth double-double of the weekend with 10 kills and 15 digs. She had a .222 hitting percentage and also had one block assist. "Although we lost in three, we actually competed better than against Wichita State," said Head Coach Lisa Kissee. "Our transition offense was pretty weak and Southwest Missouri's was pretty strong, especially on the outside." Shakeithia Deckard, a freshman from Nacogdoches, TX, was named to the All-Tournament team. She had 45 kills and 33 digs in the three matches of the tournament. In the early game, Middle Tennessee lost in five games to Wichita State (9-14) 22-30, 31-29, 30-23, 16-30, 7-15. After losing the first game, the Lady Raiders came roaring back to take games two and three. In game two the team had an attack percentage of .189 while the Shockers could only produce .020. Game three was the highlight for MT as the team hit .372 and had 19 kills on 43 attacks with only three errors. Wichita took games four and five on poor hitting and serving by Middle Tennessee. Game four saw the once hot Lady Raiders hit a negative .062 and register eight errors on just six kills. The fifth game rally had MT at .000 in hitting with five kills and five errors. "Our serving in games four and five cost us the match," Kissee said. "Wichita's outsides stepped it up in games four and five, whereas we shut ourselves down on the outside." Hillstrom registered her third double-double of the weekend with 10 kills and 11 digs and also had two block assists. Two other Lady Raiders had double-doubles as freshman Deckard had 16 kills and 13 digs and junior Katie Thiesen had 12 kills and 10 digs. Junior Jennifer Hignite had a decent game at the net as she recorded two solo blocks and five block assists. She also led the team in hitting percentage with .352 with eight kills on 17 attacks and two errors. Middle Tennessee will host their final home game and close out the Sun Belt Conference regular season when the Lady Raiders host Florida International on Saturday. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. in the Murphy Center.