Blue Raiders pull out tight 3-2 win

Friday, October 9

Alumni Memorial Gym

7:00 PM

Middle Tennessee

Arkansas State

Photo by: Bradley Lambert

10/9/2009 9:40:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

By: MT Athletic Communications

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The Blue Raiders pulled out a five-set battle (23-25, 25-23, 18-25, 25-15, 15-13) over Arkansas State on Friday night. Middle Tennessee (10-7, 3-1,) started out rocky but composed itself when it needed to pull out the win. The Red Wolves (14-6, 4-2) fought and won then they needed to but the Blue Raiders were able stay ahead just enough. Senior Ashley Mead who needed just eight kills to join the 1,000 kill club and joined the prestigious group when she notched 13 kills. Senior Ashley Waugh also joined a prestigious club when she recorded her 1,000th dig. Waugh had 19 digs against the Red Wolves. Sophomore Stacy Oladinni led the team throughout the night at the net notching 14 kills for a .440 hitting percentage while junior Izabela Kozon added 13 kills of her own. As a team, Middle Tennessee had 66 kills for a .210 hitting percentage while ASU hit just .153 in the match with 51 kills. Brittany Hoag led the Red Wolves in kills with 15 for a .308 hitting percentage while Cayla Fielder had 13. The Blue Raiders continued to perform well at the net defensively posting 15 total blocks with senior Janay Yancey posting six block assists and one solo block. Mead also added depth to the block with five assists and one solo of her own. Middle Tennessee and the Red Wolves battled throughout the first set. With the match tied at 23 ASU pulled ahead by one. Then Kozon made a passing error receiving the serve from the Red Wolves giving them the 25-23 win. The Blue Raiders rebounded in the second set staying ahead by two or three. ASU tied the match a number of times but Middle Tennessee kept winning points to take the lead back over. A kill by Wistrick gave the Blue Raiders the 25-23 win and knotted the set at one. At the end of two sets, Middle Tennessee had 32 kills with a .240 hitting percentage while the Red Wolves had a .192 attack percentage with 27 kills. Wistrick and Oladinni each had eight kills at the set break. The Blue Raiders had just one more block in the match though with five while ASU had four. Each team had 10 kills in the third set but the Blue Raiders were unable to capitalize and win a string of points falling to ASU 25-18. The Blue Raiders will be back in action on Sunday, Oct. 11 at 1 p.m. when they face Arkansas-Little Rock.