Volleyball Splits Final Day of Golden Eagle Invitational

Saturday, September 21

Cookeville, Tenn.

12:30 PM CT

Middle Tennessee

5-7

Western Illinois

3-9

Middle Tennessee

Western Illinois

9/21/2019 9:55:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: @MTAthletics

COOKEVILLE, Tenn.—The Middle Tennessee volleyball team split the final day of the Golden Eagle Invitational, defeating Western Illinois in four sets and falling to Tennessee Tech in four. The Blue Raiders leave the tournament 5-8 on the season.

Urte Neimantaite and Dora Peonia both finished with 14 kills against Western Illinois. Peonia also tallied 14 digs to record her seventh double-double on the season. Kayla Henley had a career-high 19 digs and tallied 12 kills to record her third double-double. The Blue Raiders out-blocked the Leathernecks 8.0 to 6.0.

Neimantaite led the attacks against Tennessee Tech, finishing with a season-high 19 kills. Bri Tankesley held it down in the back row, recording 16 digs on the match. Senior setter Taylor Hammill finished with 49 assists and Henley tallied 13 kills.

Set-By-Set
Western Illinois
The Leathernecks got to a 2-0 lead to start off set one, but the Blue Raiders tied it up 4-4 with a Peonia kill. Western Illinois then went on a 4-0 run to take an 8-4 lead, which they kept the rest of the set. At 19-12, the Leathernecks went on a 6-0 run, claiming the set 25-12.

At the start of set two, the two teams battled point-for-point until Western Illinois went on a 5-0 run to take the lead, 7-3. A Peonia kill broke up the run and allowed the Blue Raiders to go on a 5-0 run to tie it up, 12-12 and then continue the run to take a 15-12 lead. The Leathernecks scored four more and tied it up again 16-16, but MT went on another 5-0 run, which included a Henley kill and back-to-back kills from Peonia, to gain a 21-16 lead. A kill from Neimantaite brought it to set-point, and Bri Tankesley sealed the deal for the Blue Raiders with an ace to take the set, 25-19.

MT took a 2-0 lead at the start of set three with kills from Neimantaite and Henley. Western Illinois went on a 4-0 run, followed by a 4-0 run from the Blue Raiders, giving them a 7-6 lead. MT continued to lead, and at 14-13, the Blue Raiders went on a 6-0 run with the help of three Neimantaite kills to up the lead to 20-13. The Blue Raiders eventually took the set, 25-17.

In set four, the scores remained tight until the end. The Leathernecks took the first point, but the Blue Raiders came back and took a 6-4 lead. They furthered the lead with kills from Amalie Jorgensen Neimantaite, which MT held on to until a Western Illinois ace tied it up 13-13. The lead changed a few more times, but at 23-23, Peonia got a kill to bring it to match-point. MT claimed the set, 25-23 and the match with a Jorgensen kill.

Tennessee Tech
The Golden Eagles got to a 2-0 lead to start the match, and kept the lead until the Blue Raiders tied it up at 14-14. MT eventually took a 19-18 lead off a TTU attacking error, followed by another error, 20-18. Back-to-back kills from Neimantatie allowed MT to claim set one, 26-24.

The Blue Raiders began set two with a 2-0 lead after kills from Henley and Neimantaite. They held on to 4-2 lead until the Golden Eagles went on a 3-0 run to take back the lead, 5-4. Later on in the set, TTU went on another 4-0 run, to lead 12-7. MT came within two, 20-22 because of a few TTU attacking errors, but the Golden Eagles still claimed the set, 25-21.

In set three, the Blue Raiders scored the first two points once again to take the lead. TTU went on a 2-0 run, followed by an MT 3-0 run to bring it to 5-2, Blue Raiders up. TTU took back the lead with a 4-0 run, 7-6. A kill from Henley tied it up at 10-10, but the Golden Eagles took back the lead and held it for the rest of the set, claiming set three 25-22.

TTU claimed set four, 25-20 after a long, hard fight to take the match. Neimantaite tallied six kills in set four alone, and Tankesley recorded seven of her 16 total digs.

Team Notes

Dora Peonia has led the team attacks on four occasions and has recorded seventh double-doubles on the season.
Urte Neimantaite dished out a career-high 19 kills against Tennessee Tech and has one double-double. She has also led the team attacks on six occasions.
Taylor Hammill is 156 assists away from hitting the 2,000 assists mark. She has also recorded five double-doubles this season.
Hammill has a season-high 52 assists and 18 digs.
Bri Tankesley is 97 digs away from the 1,000 digs mark with 903 total. She also recorded a career-high four aces against Alabama A&M and a season-high 24 digs against Southern Illinois. Tankesley leads the team in aces with a total 17 on the season.
Kayla Henley has recorded three double-doubles on the season. She also tallied a career-high 19 digs against Western Illinois.
Marley Banton has a team-high 16 aces on the season.
Mikaela Weidmann leads the team in blocks with 37.0.

Up Next
The Blue Raiders are hosting Arkansas-Pine Bluff for their home opener in the Alumni Memorial Gym Sunday at 1 p.m. Live stats will be available for the match.

Keep up with Blue Raider Volleyball online: Middle Tennessee Blue Raider Volleyball on Facebook, @MT_Volleyball on Twitter and @mt_volleyball on Instagram.