Volleyball Sweeps Arkansas-Pine Bluff in Home Opener

Sunday, September 22

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

1:00 PM CT

Middle Tennessee

6-8

Arkansas - Pine Bluff

0-11

Ark.-Pine Bluff

Middle Tenn.

9/22/2019 3:07:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Photo Gallery

By: @MTAthletics

MURFREESBORO, Tenn.—The Middle Tennessee volleyball team defeated Arkansas-Pine Bluff in three sets by scores of 25-20, 25-21, 25-15 Sunday afternoon in the Alumni Memorial Gym.

Urte Neimantaite led the attacks for the seventh time this season with a total nine kills on the match. Bri Tankesley held it down in back row with 11 total digs and Taylor Hammill dished out 40 assists.

Set-By-Set
Freshman Dasia Smith scored the first point of the match with a kill, the first of her eight total on the match. Arkansas-Pine Bluff took a 3-1 lead with a kill and two Blue Raider errors, but MT tied it up 4-4 with an ace from Samira Lawson-Body. The Blue Raiders took the lead at 8-7 with a kill by Neimantaite and held on to the lead the rest of the set. MT claimed the set, 25-20.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff got off to a 4-0 lead to start the second set, but the Blue Raiders tied it up at 8-8 after kills from Dora Peonia, Lawson-Body and Amalie Jorgensen, and a few Golden Lion errors. MT took the lead with a Neimantaite kill, but Pine Bluff came back and took over with a kill. Smith recorded another kill to tie it up once again, allowing the Blue Raiders to take the lead for the rest of the set. Another Smith kill sealed the deal for MT, claiming the set 25-21.

Emma Grever recorded a kill in set three to give the Blue Raiders a 4-2 lead, but the Golden Lions tied it up at 4-4 off an attacking error. From there, MT got the lead back after back-to-back Pine Bluff errors, and kept the lead the rest of the match. Grever tallied five kills in set three alone, one of which gave MT a 22-15 lead. After two Pine Bluff attacking errors and Neimantaite's ninth kill, the Blue Raiders claimed the set, 25-15 and the match.

Team Notes

Dora Peonia has led the team attacks on four occasions and has recorded seven 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 seven occasions.
Taylor Hammill is 206 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 130 digs away from the 1,000 digs mark with 870 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 42.0.

Up Next
The Blue Raiders are at home again next weekend, hosting the Charlotte 49ers Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Alumni Memorial Gym.

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