Blue Raiders Tasked With North Texas in First Round of C-USA Tournament

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders are back in Norfolk, Virginia as they take on the third seed from the West, North Texas, for their first match of the Conference USA Championship Tournament.

After a bumpy ending to the season against Old Dominion, the Blue Raiders get a chance to rack up a huge win at a neutral site to start post season play. If Middle Tennessee wins their first match on Friday, they will take on the winner of Rice vs. Charlotte.

Middle Tennessee (8-10, 6-6) vs. North Texas (15-11, 7-5)

Friday, November 19 at 1 p.m. CT – CUSA.TV
Hosted at ODU Volleyball Center – Norfolk, VA
The all-time series is 11-12 in North Texas's favor.
Middle Tennessee won the last matchup between the two teams in 2019.

Blue Raider's Quick Hitters

The Blue Raiders are 2-1 at neutral sites this season.
Senior Samira Lawson Body was freshly named to the Conference USA All-Academic Team on Monday, November 15.
Marley Banton is having a historic season for the Blue Raiders. Banton is averaging 5.02 digs/set in Conference USA play and is the only player in-league play over 200 digs with 256 total. Banton moved up to third all-time last time out with 81 career service aces.
The two natives of Istanbul, Turkey, Melisa Nur Temiz and Melisa Tore, are sitting at fourth and fifth for highest service aces per set average in C-USA with .44 and .43 respectively.
Dasia Smith continues to be on a hot streak in conference play with the two most efficient attack games for a middle blocker this season; 13 kills on 19 attempts (.684) against Old Dominion and 12 kills on 18 attempts (.667) against Charlotte.

Tale of the Tape: North Texas Mean Green

The Mean Green are 1-3 in neutral site matches this season.
North Texas comes into the match on a three-match loss streak against Conference USA opponents.
Offensively, the Mean Green are led by one of the best student-athletes in the conference in Rhett Robinson. Robinson leads the team with 504.5 points and 450 kills on a 5.36 kills per set clip. She is also second on the team with 25 service aces on the season.
Senior Middle Blocker Sarah Haeussler averages over a block a set on the defense. The Mean Green have two defensive specialists that average over three digs per set.

Follow the Blue Raiders on Twitter (@MT_Volleyball), Instagram (@mt_volleyball), and Facebook (Middle Tennessee Blue Raider Volleyball).

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Players Mentioned

Marley Banton

Samira Lawson Body

Melisa Nur Temiz

Dasia Smith

Middle Tennesee State University Athletics