Volleyball Continues C-USA Action at Home, WKU

Friday, October 18

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

6:00 PM CT

Middle Tennessee

#24 WKU

10/17/2019 1:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Game Notes

By: @MTAthletics

MURFREESBORO, Tenn.—The Middle Tennessee volleyball team is at home this weekend to take on the WKU Lady Toppers for the second time this season Friday evening in Alumni Memorial Gym.

Friday, Oct. 18, 2019 – Middle Tennessee vs. WKU – 6 p.m. – Live Stats – Live Stream

The Blue Raiders return home for more conference play after traveling to Houston, Texas last weekend where they took on the Rice Owls. MT fell to Rice in three sets by scores of 18-25, 17-25, 10-25. The Blue Raiders fell to 7-12 overall and 1-4 in the conference. Dora Peonia led the offense with a total 11 kills on the match, and Taylor Hammill dished out 24 assists in the three sets. After tallying six digs on the match, Bri Tankesley is now 14 digs away from the 1,000 career-digs mark.

Scouting the Opponent
The WKU Lady Toppers are ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll, coming in at No. 24 and are ranked first in the conference with a 19-1 overall record and 5-0 C-USA record. The Lady Toppers won their 15^th straight game on Sunday when they downed FIU in three sets.

Sophomore Lauren Matthews leads the team in kills with a total 276 on the year. She is ranked first in the conference for her .451 hitting percentage, fifth for overall kills and third for her 1.22 blocks per set. Freshman Paige Briggs leads the team defense with a total 224 digs on the year and comes in at second on the team for kills with 226 total. Briggs is ranked seventh in the conference with 3.28 kills per set.

The team as a whole ranks first in the conference for hitting percentage with .286 and 941 total kills.

The Blue Raiders faced the Lady Toppers earlier this season in Bowling Green, Ky., where they fell in four sets by scores of 15-25, 25-19, 17-25, 12-25. WKU leads the all-time series 48-16.

Team Notes

Dora Peonia has led the team attacks on seven occasions and has recorded nine double-doubles on the season.
Urte Neimantaite tallied a career-high 19 kills on two occasions, against Tennessee Tech and Marshall. She has one double-double on the season and has led the team attacks on seven occasions.
Taylor Hammill recorded her 2,000^th career-assist against Marshall on October 11. She has also recorded eight double-doubles this season. Hammill is ranked 20^th in the nation for total assists and third in the conference for assists per set.
Hammill has a season-high 52 assists and 18 digs.
Bri Tankesley is 14 digs away from the 1,000 digs mark with 986 total. She also recorded a career-high four aces against Alabama A&M and a season-high 26 digs against Marshall. Tankesley co-leads the team in aces with a total 18 on the season.
Kayla Henley has recorded four double-doubles on the season. She also tallied a career-high 19 digs against Western Illinois.
Marley Banton has a total 18 aces on the year and an average 0.41 aces per set.
Mikaela Weidmann leads the team in blocks with 54.0.

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