Volleyball Takes Care of Southern Miss in Four Sets

Sunday, October 27

Hattiesburg, Miss.

1:00 PM CT

Middle Tennessee

10-13, 3-5

Southern Mississippi

1-22, 0-9

MTSU

Southern Miss

10/27/2019 4:19:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

By: @MTAthletics

HATTIESBURG, Miss.—The Middle Tennessee volleyball team defeated Southern Miss in four sets Sunday afternoon by scores of 24-26, 25-23, 25-22, 25-15. The Blue Raiders improve to 10-13 on the season and 3-5 in the conference, while the Golden Eagles fall to 1-22 overall and 0-9 in the league.

Senior Bri Tankesley recorded a season-high 30 digs in the four sets, averaging 7.5 digs per set. Freshman Kayla Henley finished with 12 kills and a match-high .545 hitting percentage. Urte Neimantaite led the team in kills for the ninth time this season with a total 13 kills on the match, and senior Dora Peonia also finished with 12 kills and 11 digs to record her 11^th double-double this season. Peonia and senior Mikaela Weidmann both tallied three service aces.
As a team, the Blue Raiders out blocked the Golden Eagles 13.0 to 7.0, and finished with an overall .236 hitting percentage.

Set-By-Set
The Blue Raiders got on the board first in set one with a kill from Henley, but the Golden Eagles quickly tied it up, 2-2. After back-to-back kills from Amalie Jorgensen and Peonia, MT took a 6-3 lead. Southern Miss came within one at 6-5, but the Blue Raiders went on a 3-0 run to take a bigger 9-5 lead. MT kept the lead until the Golden Eagles tied it up at 15-15, and then again at 24-24. Southern Miss had two kills to take the set, 26-24.

MT took its first lead in set two at 4-3 with a Jorgensen kill, and held on to the lead until Southern Miss tied it up 8-8. The Golden Eagles then took a small lead before the score tied up again, 10-10. At one point the Blue Raiders had a 19-15 lead, but the Golden Eagles came within one at 20-19. At 24-21, Southern Miss had two kills to come within one again, but MT took the set, 25-23 off an attacking error.

In set three the scores were tied on 11 occasions, making it another close set. MT took its first big lead of the set, 7-3 with a Weidmann service ace, but the Golden Eagles eventually tied it up at 12-12. Southern Miss took its first lead of the set at 16-15, but the Blue Raiders quickly stole it back kills from Henley and Jorgensen. The last tied score was 21-21, when MT went on a 2-0 run, and then another 2-0 run to take the set, 25-22.

The Blue Raiders scored the first point again In set four, and took 6-3 lead with a Peonia kill. With MT leading 11-10, the Blue Raiders went on a 4-0 run to take a bigger 15-10 lead, and then a 5-0 run, bringing the score to 21-13. Southern Miss had one more kill to bring it to 21-14, and then scored on an MT attacking error, but the Blue Raiders stole the set, 25-15, with a Neimantaite kill to claim the match.

Team Notes

Dora Peonia has led the team attacks on nine occasions and has recorded 11 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 nine occasions.
Neimantaite is ranked 10^th in the conference for her average 3.16 kills per set.
Taylor Hammill recorded her 2,000^th career-assist against Marshall on October 11. She has also recorded ten double-doubles this season. Hammill is ranked third in the conference for her 9.93 assists per set.
Hammill recorded a season-high 52 assists on two occasions and a season-high 18 digs.
Bri Tankesley recorded her 1,000^th dig against UT Martin on October 22. She also recorded a career-high four aces against Alabama A&M and a season-high 26 digs against Marshall.
Tankesley is also ranked ninth in the conference for her average 3.66 digs per set, and co-leads the team in service aces with 19 total.
Kayla Henley has recorded four double-doubles on the season. She also tallied a career-high 19 digs against Western Illinois.
Marley Banton co-leads the team with a total 19 aces on the year.
Mikaela Weidmann leads the team in blocks with 73.0.

Up Next
The Blue Raiders return home to take on the UAB Blazers Friday at 6 p.m. and the LA Tech Lady Techsters Sunday at 1 p.m. Live stats will be available and both matches will stream live on ESPN+.

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