Blue Raiders Come Up Short During the Final Day of Blue Raider Bash

Saturday, September 1

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

1:00 p.m.

Middle Tennessee

1-4

Troy

4-1

Troy

Middle Tennessee

9/1/2018 9:42:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Middle Tennessee volleyball team (1-5) was back in action in the Alumni Memorial Gym on Saturday in a doubleheader against Troy (4-2) and Stetson (4-2). The Blue Raiders dropped their first contest of the day to Troy in four sets (21-25, 25-22, 14-25, 21-25) before falling to Stetson in four frames (23-25, 29-27, 21-25, 18-25).

Top Performers versus Troy, 3-1
Bailey Mason – 12 kills hitting on a .455, five digs
Sarah Sumida – 38 assists, eight digs
Dora Peonia – nine kills (season-high), seven total blocks (season-high)

Troy Recap
In an electric first set, the Blue Raiders saw 12 lead changes. Senior outside hitter Bailey Mason controlled the offensive flow for the Blue Raiders in the first set, knocking down four kills and hitting on a .600 clip. Despite the team's offensive efforts, the Blue Raiders dropped the first frame to the Trojans, 25-21.

In set two the Trojans jumped out to an early 5-0 lead before Middle Tennessee responded with a run of their own (12-2), taking their first lead of the second set. Mason and senior Coughlin helped propel the Blue Raiders to a set win (25-22), recording four kills apiece.

Middle Tennessee was unable to regain momentum falling to the Trojans in the third (25-14) and fourth (25-21) sets.

Top Performers versus Stetson, 3-1
Bailey Mason- 17 kills (career-high) on .244 hitting, 19 digs.
Sarah Sumida- 55 assists (career-high), eight digs
Samira Lawson Body- 16 kills (career-high) on .448 hitting (career-high), nine digs (career-high)

Stetson Recap
Stetson started by taking the lead 3-0 in set one. However, Middle Tennessee powered back and tied the set at 13-all with a kill from freshman middle blocker, Julia Valdez. As the set continued, the frame became a back and forth struggle, tying seven times before Stetson claimed the first set win of the match, 23-25. Sumida made her contribution to the Blue Raider offense, accounting for 14 of the team's 15 assists in the first set while Mason tallied five kills on a .188 clip in the first frame.

Set two was just as competitive as the first with 18 lead changes and the Blue Raiders taking the set win over the Hatters, 29-27.

The Hatters jumped out to an early 6-0 lead to start set three. However, the Blue Raiders responded with a 4-0 run to bring the set within one point of the Hatters (7-8). Stetson slowly gained control of the momentum to claim set three over Middle Tennessee, 21-25. Sumida added another 16 assists for a total of 46 going into set four, while Mason added three more kills, for a total of 13.

Despite a strong start to the fourth and final frame, the Blue Raiders were not able to secure a win and dropped the set to Stetson, 18-25.

Mason recorded her first double-double of the season with 17 kills and 19 digs while Lawson Body came close to recording her career first with a 16 kill and nine dig showing.

Up Next
The Blue Raiders will be back on the court again this weekend as they travel to Smithfield, R.I. to compete in the Hampton Inn-Invitational. The first match against Bryant University is scheduled to start on Friday at 3p.m. and will conclude with a doubleheader against Quinnipiac at 9a.m. and Coppin State at 2p.m.