Blue Raiders Sting Hornets in Exhilarating Reverse Sweep Win

Friday, August 26

Sacramento, CA

12:00 PM

Middle Tennessee

-01,00 CUSA

University of Portland

1-0,0-0WCC

Middle Tenn.

Portland

Photo by: Emily Cole/MT Athletic Communications

8/27/2022 3:13:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

MT went 1-1 on the day losing to Portland 0-3 and beating Sacramento State 3-2

By: Braydin Sik, MT Athletic Communications

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Middle Tennessee volleyball team kicked off their season and the Sacramento State Tournament on Friday, August 26 at The Nest in Sacramento, California. The first test of the season came from Portland who won the match 3-0, but the Blue Raiders proved they were better than the performance from earlier after completing a reverse sweep over the Sacramento State Hornets later that day.

The Blue Raiders (1-1, 0-0 C-USA) fell short in their last two sets of a 3-0 loss to the Portland Pilots (2-0, 0-0 WCC) Friday morning. The loss left a bad taste for Middle Tennessee which crept into their night match against the Sacramento State Hornets (1-1, 0-0) with an early 0-2 start. The first two sets including attack percentages of .000 and -.261 for MTSU. The Blue Raiders went on to outhit the Hornets the last three sets to complete the comeback.

MATCH WINNER from @KayleeOscarson!🔥#BLUEnited | 💻ESPN+: https://t.co/PE02VLLm8U pic.twitter.com/In3jVHNY8N
— MT Volleyball (@MT_Volleyball) August 27, 2022

By the Numbers
4.25: A huge part of the success MTSU had on Friday was due to, reigning C-USA Libero of the Year, senior Marley Banton's ability to dig out the toughest swings by the opposition. Through eight sets on Friday, Banton had 34 digs for an average of 4.25 digs per set.
7: Seniors Kayla Henley (4-0-7) and Kaylee Oscarson (3-0-4) combined for seven kills in the last set to put away in hopes the Hornets had of stopping the Blue Raiders.
12.0: Middle Tennessee's block set up extremely well down the stretch against the Hornets. The Blue Raiders out-blocked Sac State with 12 total blocks, including six from Kaylee Oscarson herself.
26: The Blue Raiders scored a combined 26 points in the first two sets before rallying back to win the next three. As VolleyballMag.com pointed out after the match, the fun part about NCAA volleyball is it doesn't matter how bad you lose a set.

Blue Raider Notes

Banton hit home four service aces on Friday tying her at 88 career aces in the 25-point rally scoring era with Izabela Kozon in second place.
Henley moved into seventh place in the 25-point era with 12 career double-doubles.
Graduate student Chen Abramovich hit home four service aces in her first match as a Blue Raider, and also earned her first career kill in the reverse sweep over Sac State.

Up Next
The Blue Raiders are staying in Sacramento for one more match against Nevada on Saturday, August 27 at 1:00 p.m. CT.

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