Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
NOTEBOOK: Football prepares to hit the road to Virginia once again
10/4/2021 5:00:00 PM | General
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Finally dry from Saturday's win over Marshall in Floyd Stadium, Middle Tennessee football spent Monday's press conference turning the page to the latest road trip on their schedule: a Saturday afternoon battle with 4-1 Liberty.
The FBS Independent Flames are coming off perhaps their best performance this season, a 36-12 shelacking of UAB in the Blazers' first ever game at Protective Stadium. The Flames scored 33 straight points after entering halftime tied 3-3 to pull away in Birmingham.
"I really believe, and this isn't coach speak, I think this is the best team we've played so far," head coach Rick Stockstill said. "They're very athletic, very fast on both sides of the ball."
The Liberty offense is led by quarterback Malik Willis, an Auburn transfer who has established himself as one of the top potential NFL prospects during his time in Lynchburg. Through five games this season, the redshirt junior has thrown for 1,108 yards and 11 touchdowns with no interceptions, while also being the team's leading rusher, averaging 6.3 yards a carry for 418 total rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns.
"He's a bigger, probably 225 pound (quarterback) who breaks a lot of tackles," Stockstill said. "So we've got to do a really good job of wrapping up when we get to him. He's not a burner, but he's got vision, great change of direction, and he's so strong that he breaks a lot of tackles."
Reed Blankenship, the reigning C-USA defensive player of the week after his seven tackle, two fumble recovery, one force fumble and touchdown night against Marshall, said that even with Willis' prowess in the running game, he still thought the quarterback was a pass first player, pointing out the Liberty offense liked to take shots down the field. Against UAB, four different Flames receivers had at least one catch of 31 yards or more.
On defense, Stockstill said the Flames will be the fastest unit they've played thus far. They compiled eight TFLs and five sacks in Birmingham last Saturday, while holding UAB to just 152 yards in the air.
"We've got to do a good job of creating a new line of scrimmage," Stockstill said. "We can't play the game in our backfield, we've got to get on their side of the line of scrimmage, or it's going to be a long day."
Soccer earns crucial three points on the road in Boca Raton
Senior Sam DeBein came up big for the Blue Raiders this past friday, slotting in a rebound on a corner kick in the 57th minute to push MT past FAU 1-0, earning the Blue Raiders three points in the C-USA standings.
Junior keeper Hannah Suder earned the clean sheet between the posts, making five saves during the contest.
"This was a good win against a strong FAU team," head coach Aston Rhoden said post game. "I'm really proud of our team and the character we showed."
The win gives MT six points in the C-USA east division table, good for fourth in the seven team division with a 2-2 record. A win over third place Charlotte on the road this Friday would see the Blue Raiders leapfrog the 49ers in the conference standings with four conference games remaining.
Volleyball road split keeps MT near top of C-USA Standings
Continuing their strong start to conference play, Middle Tennessee volleyball split their two matches on the road at Marshall this past weekend, dropping a five set match on Friday before rolling back to win 3-1 on Saturday.
Samira Lawson Body posted good numbers once again at outside hitter, tallying 36 total kills on the weekend to lead the Blue Raiders. Right Side Kayla Henley also kept up pace in C-USA play, tallying 28 kills over the two matches.
Setter Taylor Eisert had 87 assists in Huntington, W. Va., putting her within sixteen assists of joining the 1,000 assist club at Middle Tennessee.
With a 3-1 conference record, MT sits at second place in the East Division behind nationally ranked Western Kentucky. FIU (3-8, 0-2 C-USA) visits Murfreesboro this weekend for a two-match series with the Blue Raiders.
Chris Edge sets the tone at ITA All-Americans
Graduate student Chris Edge earned a big opening round victory at the ITA All-Americans in Tulsa, Okla. this morning, upsetting nationally ranked Magnus Johnson of Florida Gulf Coast to open the tournament.
The Carlise, Great Britain native took down the No. 69 ranked Eagle in straight sets (6-3, 7-5). Elsewhere in the qualifying draw, Stijk Slump moved on with a three set win over Stanford's Timothy Sah (7-5, 2-6, 6-3).
Both Edge and Slump need to win two matches tomorrow to join teammate Francisco Rocha in the main singles draw. Rocha entered the tournament ranked No. 38, earning himself automatic qualification to the main draw.
On the doubles side, Slump teams up with Pavel Motl as the No. 21 seed in the main doubles draw, with the tandem of Edge and Rocha looking to qualify their way into the main draw.
2021 marks the first time head coach Jimmy Borendame has had student athletes start the ITA All-Americans in both the singles and doubles main draw.
Women's Basketball opens practice
Winter sports will be in season before you know it, and with the first practices for basketball underway last week, MT Athletic Communications student assistant Chris Sakacsi brings you inside the women's basketball program's first practice.
Check out his feature from last week here.
Men's Basketball also starts practice sessions
With just over a month to go before Blue Raider men's hoops gets the 2021-22 season underway, MT has seen a few new faces in the gym. These new Blue Raiders have worked hard in the off-season and have impressed in the first few practices of the new campaign.
Sakacsi also wrote about the first week of practice for MT's men in a story published on GoBlueRaiders.com Monday.
The FBS Independent Flames are coming off perhaps their best performance this season, a 36-12 shelacking of UAB in the Blazers' first ever game at Protective Stadium. The Flames scored 33 straight points after entering halftime tied 3-3 to pull away in Birmingham.
"I really believe, and this isn't coach speak, I think this is the best team we've played so far," head coach Rick Stockstill said. "They're very athletic, very fast on both sides of the ball."
The Liberty offense is led by quarterback Malik Willis, an Auburn transfer who has established himself as one of the top potential NFL prospects during his time in Lynchburg. Through five games this season, the redshirt junior has thrown for 1,108 yards and 11 touchdowns with no interceptions, while also being the team's leading rusher, averaging 6.3 yards a carry for 418 total rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns.
"He's a bigger, probably 225 pound (quarterback) who breaks a lot of tackles," Stockstill said. "So we've got to do a really good job of wrapping up when we get to him. He's not a burner, but he's got vision, great change of direction, and he's so strong that he breaks a lot of tackles."
Reed Blankenship, the reigning C-USA defensive player of the week after his seven tackle, two fumble recovery, one force fumble and touchdown night against Marshall, said that even with Willis' prowess in the running game, he still thought the quarterback was a pass first player, pointing out the Liberty offense liked to take shots down the field. Against UAB, four different Flames receivers had at least one catch of 31 yards or more.
On defense, Stockstill said the Flames will be the fastest unit they've played thus far. They compiled eight TFLs and five sacks in Birmingham last Saturday, while holding UAB to just 152 yards in the air.
"We've got to do a good job of creating a new line of scrimmage," Stockstill said. "We can't play the game in our backfield, we've got to get on their side of the line of scrimmage, or it's going to be a long day."
Soccer earns crucial three points on the road in Boca Raton
Senior Sam DeBein came up big for the Blue Raiders this past friday, slotting in a rebound on a corner kick in the 57th minute to push MT past FAU 1-0, earning the Blue Raiders three points in the C-USA standings.
Junior keeper Hannah Suder earned the clean sheet between the posts, making five saves during the contest.
The go-ahead score from @sam_debien, her second goal of the season! 💪
— MT Soccer (@MT_Soccer) October 2, 2021
⚡️ - 1
🦉 - 0#BlueRaiders | #MT pic.twitter.com/JPsTnN2wDR
"This was a good win against a strong FAU team," head coach Aston Rhoden said post game. "I'm really proud of our team and the character we showed."
The win gives MT six points in the C-USA east division table, good for fourth in the seven team division with a 2-2 record. A win over third place Charlotte on the road this Friday would see the Blue Raiders leapfrog the 49ers in the conference standings with four conference games remaining.
Volleyball road split keeps MT near top of C-USA Standings
Continuing their strong start to conference play, Middle Tennessee volleyball split their two matches on the road at Marshall this past weekend, dropping a five set match on Friday before rolling back to win 3-1 on Saturday.
Samira Lawson Body posted good numbers once again at outside hitter, tallying 36 total kills on the weekend to lead the Blue Raiders. Right Side Kayla Henley also kept up pace in C-USA play, tallying 28 kills over the two matches.
Setter Taylor Eisert had 87 assists in Huntington, W. Va., putting her within sixteen assists of joining the 1,000 assist club at Middle Tennessee.
With a 3-1 conference record, MT sits at second place in the East Division behind nationally ranked Western Kentucky. FIU (3-8, 0-2 C-USA) visits Murfreesboro this weekend for a two-match series with the Blue Raiders.
FINAL | MT 3 - MU 1
— MT Volleyball (@MT_Volleyball) October 2, 2021
Blue Raiders take match two of the weekend series! Samira Lawson Body flexed on the Herd with a new career-high 20 kills! Middle Tennessee sits at 3-1 in Conference USA play now.#BlueRaiders | #MT pic.twitter.com/QQovBpL4Lw
Chris Edge sets the tone at ITA All-Americans
Graduate student Chris Edge earned a big opening round victory at the ITA All-Americans in Tulsa, Okla. this morning, upsetting nationally ranked Magnus Johnson of Florida Gulf Coast to open the tournament.
The Carlise, Great Britain native took down the No. 69 ranked Eagle in straight sets (6-3, 7-5). Elsewhere in the qualifying draw, Stijk Slump moved on with a three set win over Stanford's Timothy Sah (7-5, 2-6, 6-3).
Both Edge and Slump need to win two matches tomorrow to join teammate Francisco Rocha in the main singles draw. Rocha entered the tournament ranked No. 38, earning himself automatic qualification to the main draw.
On the doubles side, Slump teams up with Pavel Motl as the No. 21 seed in the main doubles draw, with the tandem of Edge and Rocha looking to qualify their way into the main draw.
2021 marks the first time head coach Jimmy Borendame has had student athletes start the ITA All-Americans in both the singles and doubles main draw.
Women's Basketball opens practice
Winter sports will be in season before you know it, and with the first practices for basketball underway last week, MT Athletic Communications student assistant Chris Sakacsi brings you inside the women's basketball program's first practice.
Check out his feature from last week here.
Men's Basketball also starts practice sessions
With just over a month to go before Blue Raider men's hoops gets the 2021-22 season underway, MT has seen a few new faces in the gym. These new Blue Raiders have worked hard in the off-season and have impressed in the first few practices of the new campaign.
Sakacsi also wrote about the first week of practice for MT's men in a story published on GoBlueRaiders.com Monday.
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