MT falls to Rice in Valiant Effort

Friday, October 24

Houston, Texas

6:00 p.m.

Middle Tennessee

-717, 37 CUSA

Rice

-176, 72 CUSA

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Middle Tennessee St.	23	22	26	21	1
RICE	25	25	24	25	3

10/24/2014 8:27:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

HOUSTON – The Middle Tennessee volleyball team (7-17, 3-7, C-USA) put forth a valiant effort in a 3-1 loss to Rice (17-6, 7-2 C-USA) Friday evening at Tudor Fieldhouse.

After getting swept by Rice in the first contest earlier this season, the Blue Raiders played significantly better this time around, giving the Owls all they could handle despite the setback.

Junior Chelsea Ross tied for a game-high 22 kills while sophomore Miri Shade tied her season-high with 10 kills. Senior Ailime de Freitas paced MT with 26 assists and freshman Morgan St. Germain led the way with 19 digs, just one shy of her career-high.

Senior Monét Marshall posted a team-best six blocks to go along with six kills.

The Blue Raiders jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the first set that saw contributions from Shade and Marshall. MT stayed in front for majority of the set while taking a 19-16 lead in the process.

Rice's 4-1 run then put the Owls ahead, 20-19, thanks to a kill from Ross and a Rice error gave the Blue Raiders the lead back, 21-20. That would be the last lead for MT despite going down, 23-22, and tying the match before the Owls captured the first set 25-23.

Game two went back and forth early in the frame while Rice started the stanza with a 6-3 lead before a kill and an ace from Ross, and a combined block from freshmen LaDaisha Gillard and Maya Miller tied the contest.

With the game tied, 12-12, Rice went on a 7-2 run to go up by five, 19-14. Middle Tennessee responded with a 7-3 run to cut the gap to one, 22-21. However, the Owls scored the final four points coming out of a timeout to win the set, 25-22, and take a 2-0 lead.

The Owls started the third set with a 10-5 lead while the Blue Raiders climbed all the way back to take a 24-23 after a rare kill from de Freitas. After Rice tying the game, 24-24, on the ensuing rally, Marshall and Shade provided clutch moments for MT with a kill and an ace to give the Blue Raiders a 26-24 win.

MT kept up the tremendous effort in the fourth set despite Rice starting the game with a 10-6 advantage. The Blue Raiders pieced together a 9-3 run that saw Gillard and Miller team up again on consecutive blocks to give MT a 15-13 lead.

Morton found Ross later in the set to give the Blue Raiders a 17-14 advantage. Four of the next five points were scored by the Owls to tie the contest, 18-18. From there on, Rice took control to outscore MT 7-3 to win set, 25-21, and the match.

MT will return to Alumni Memorial Gym next Friday on Halloween with a 7 p.m., match against North Texas.