Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
Florida International
Blue Raiders Shutout FIU 3-0
10/15/2006 4:53:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee volleyball's 3-0 (3-26, 30-21, 30-28) win over Florida International on Sunday, in Alumni Memorial Gym, moves the Blue Raiders into a two-way tie for first place in the Sun Belt East with Western Kentucky.
The Blue Raiders improve to 16-5 on the season and 7-1 in the Sun Belt. Florida International dropped its second straight conference match and falls to 8-2 in the Sun Belt and 16-6 overall.
Middle Tennessee's victory against Florida International sets up a huge match-up with Western Kentucky at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. The Blue Raiders host the Lady Toppers in what will be a fight for first-place dominance in the East as Western Kentucky also has just one loss in the Sun Belt.
"All weekend we have been talking about what we needed to do to be in this position," said Head Coach Matt Peck. "Now we are there and have to get the job done to reach our goals."
In the last four matches Middle Tennessee has shown some dominance as the club has recorded four-straight shutouts. Overall, the Blue Raiders have not allowed opponents to win a game, in a match, 12 times out of the 21 matches played this season. Middle Tennessee's shutout of FIU was just the fourth time this season the Panthers were not allowed to win a game in a match.
Middle Tennessee and Florida International battled early, but the Panthers could not overcome costly errors and the glaring 15 service errors in the match. FIU had seven service errors in game one alone.
After winning the first two games, Middle Tennessee had to battle back to win game three. Down 26-20 it appeared the Blue Raiders would have to regroup and look to concede game three and focus on game four, but the club would not be counted out. Middle Tennessee went on a 10-2 run to close out game three and the match. The Blue Raiders had some help, as FIU committed five attack errors and Middle Tennessee won the match on the Panther's 15th service error on the day.
"I told the players in a timeout that I believed we could come back and win the game," Peck said. "I believed in them and they just had to believe in themselves."
Middle Tennessee continues to hit well, as the club had a .338 attack percentage in the match and committed just 14 errors. The Blue Raiders also got huge points off the block, averaging 13.5 total team blocks.
The consistency of sophomore Ashley Adams continues. The outside hitter led the Blue Raiders with 15 kills on 22 attacks and just one error. Ashley Asberry led the club with seven block assists.
