Volleyball set for Florida road swing

Friday, October 15

Miami, Fla.

5:30 PM

Middle Tennessee

FIU

10/14/2010 5:52:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

By: Athletic Communications

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The Middle Tennessee volleyball team has won each of their last 14 matches, and will look to set a new school record for consecutive wins on Friday at FIU before taking on Florida Atlantic on Saturday. The Blue Raiders (17-4) currently sit firmly in first place in the Sun Belt East Division, with a pristine 8-0 conference record, including sweeps of arch-rival Western Kentucky, Troy and South Alabama last week. "We are looking to set the new record for consecutive wins, and the match just happens to be against one of the best teams we play all year," head coach Matt Peck said. "It will be a challenge for us, and I expect FIU to give us everything they have on Friday. FAU is much-improved this season, and we also expect a tough match with them on Saturday as well." This weekend will mark the second time this season that Middle Tennessee has taken on both FIU and Florida Atlantic, defeating both opponents in the home end of the series at Alumni Memorial Gym earlier this month. The Blue Raiders' previous match against FIU was especially impressive as the the Panthers, the defending Sun Belt regular season champions, entered with a 20-match conference regular season winning streak only to fall 3-1 at the hands of Middle Tennessee. FAU were swept on the following evening, 3-0. The Blue Raiders have been led this season by Izabela Kozon, who holds a team-high 316 kills. The senior sits second all-time in the school record books in kills with 1,539 and eighth in digs with 1,037. She has earned the Sun Belt's Player of the Week award on six occasions in her career, a school record, including three times this season. However, Maria Szivos, a transfer from New Orleans in her first season for Middle Tennessee, was the focal point of the Blue Raider offense last week, earning Sun Belt Player of the Week. The junior tallied 28 kills over the three matches and hit at an outstanding .619 clip. The Jazsbereny, Hungary, native is third on the team in kills with 157 and hitting .333 for the season. Entering the year with a stellar reputation for serving, Szivos tallied six aces last week. On the season, she has recorded a team-high 27 service aces, and boasts of 114 for her career. Also adding to the prolific Middle Tennessee offense is Ashley Adams. Despite missing a number of sets earlier in the season, the sophomore is second on the team in kills with 177, averaging 3.34 per set. Stacy Oladinni and Lindsay Cheatham have also reached triple figures in the category with 142 and 114, respectively. The defense has been anchored by libero Brynne Henderson with 272 digs, recording 3.58 per set. Kendall Howard, a freshman, has also been key in the reception game, tallying 133 digs. Oladinni and Cheatham have headed up the defense at the net, combining for 161 blocks on the season with each accounting for 1.17 stoppers per set. The Blue Raiders will take on FIU on Friday night at 5:30 p.m. and Florida Atlantic on Saturday night at 6 p.m.