Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
NOTEBOOK: Welcome to Frisco!
3/7/2023 6:17:00 PM | General, Men's Basketball, Softball, Women's Basketball, Women's Golf
It was an early morning and even longer day for your staff writer on Monday, as I grabbed a ride with the advance team for Lady Raider Basketball, as they packed dozens of bags into their bus for the weekend and got a head start on preparations for the conference tournament.
It was an early morning in Murfreesboro for the @MT_WBB advance team, who are kind enough to let me catch a ride as they drive to Frisco for the C-USA Tournament.
— Sam Doughton (@sjdoughton) March 6, 2023
Big day for me already, seeing the Bass Pro Shops pyramid in Memphis just before crossing the Mississippi pic.twitter.com/HhK7SN6rSM
It was a scenic drive through West Tennessee, Arkansas and East Texas to arrive yesterday afternoon, but it gave me a newfound appreciation for our team managers across the department, who do countless thankless tasks that help our teams be prepared for anything.
And in the case of the women's basketball managers, many of them suit up in practice to give the women's basketball team as difficult a job attacking an opposing scouting report as possible!
The travel day worked out, however, as it gave me extra time to work the All-Conference USA Basketball selections into my weekly notebook!
Wheeler, Whitson, Malashka Insell lead Conference USA Honors for Lady Raider Basketball
Savannah Wheeler and Courtney Whitson were named to the All-Conference USA First Team on Tuesday, with teammate Jalynn Gregory earning Second Team Honors. Kseniya Malashka won Sixth Player of the Year for the second season in a row, while Rick Insell was named Co-Coach of the Year with UTEP's Kevin Baker.
Four #LadyRaiders and @CoachInsell take home @ConferenceUSA honors! 👏
— MT Women's Basketball (@MT_WBB) March 7, 2023
🏀 Kseniya Malashka – Sixth Player of the Year
🏀 @CoachInsell – Co-Coach of the Year
🏀 @savwheeler4 & @WhitsonCourtney – First Team
🏀 @GregoryJalynn – Second Team
📰 https://t.co/jTSOvqiXFS#BLUEnited pic.twitter.com/JO7U8hvB1k
𝗦𝗶𝘅𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿
— Conference USA (@ConferenceUSA) March 7, 2023
Kseniya Malashka, @MT_WBB#CUSAWBB 🏀 | https://t.co/o0RQrqE4vM pic.twitter.com/vHlkDf4uB8
𝗖𝗼-𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿
— Conference USA (@ConferenceUSA) March 7, 2023
Rick Insell (@CoachInsell), @MT_WBB#CUSAWBB 🏀 | https://t.co/o0RQrqE4vM pic.twitter.com/p0w178ikIt
Fun fact of the day for y'all: This is Rick Insell's first Coach of the Year Award in Conference USA. His previous three COY honors came when he coached in the Sun Belt Conference.
The Lady Raiders, who checked in at No. 25 in this week's AP poll, start the C-USA Tournament on Thursday as the No. 1 seed against the winner of Wednesday's game between No. 8 seed FIU and No. 9 seed Charlotte. Tipoff is scheduled for 11 AM on ESPN+.
Lawrence Named to All-C-USA Second Team, Lenard to All-Defensive Team
Middle Tennessee men's basketball had four players honored in Conference USA's postseason awards, led by All-Conference USA Second Team selection for Eli Lawrence and an All-Defensive Team selection for Teafale Lenard Jr. DeAndre Dishman, Camryn Weston and Lenard were also named All-Conference USA Honorable Mention.
Congrats to Eli Lawrence on being named Second Team All-Conference USA!#StickTogether | @EliLawrence_12 pic.twitter.com/333GPakRgg
— MT Basketball (@MT_MBB) March 7, 2023
𝗔𝗹𝗹-𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺#CUSAMBB 🏀 | https://t.co/g6EPHvjDP2 pic.twitter.com/2YHcOkumKt
— Conference USA (@ConferenceUSA) March 7, 2023
Congratulations to Teafale Lenard Jr. on being named to the Conference USA All-Defensive team!#StickTogether | @TeafaleJ pic.twitter.com/N6XDrRVTXD
— MT Basketball (@MT_MBB) March 7, 2023
The Blue Raiders begin their C-USA Tournament run Thursday as the No. 4 seed, taking on No. 5 Charlotte at 6 p.m. at The Star in Frisco, Texas. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. on ESPN+.
Softball's Laura Mealer takes home C-USA Player of the Week
Also in "C-USA Honors," Middle Tennessee Softball's Laura Mealer was named C-USA Player of the Week after hitting .474 (9-for-19) with two home runs and eight RBIs at the Spring Games over the weekend.
🥎 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 🥎@MT_Softball's Laura Mealer (@Laura_Mealer5) is the #CUSASB Player of the Week presented by @BlendersEyewear!
— Conference USA (@ConferenceUSA) March 6, 2023
🏅1️⃣ | https://t.co/l2ei7EaDJy pic.twitter.com/20tNr8OEu2
It's Mealer's first weekly award from the Conference office. The Chapel Hill, Tenn. native is batting .508 through the team's first 19 games, as MTSU brings a 14-5 record home to Blue Raider Softball Field for the MTSU Invitational this weekend. The Blue Raiders will play five games this weekend, starting with Thursday's contest against Southern Illinois at 5 p.m. The full schedule for MTSU's weekend can be found below.
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 '𝗕𝗼𝗿𝗼 - presented by Ole South@MT_Softball hosts the MTSU Invitational this week, including their home opener on Thursday at 5 PM!@MT_Baseball stays home for three against Evansville.
— MT Athletics (@MTAthletics) March 6, 2023
🥎🎟 FREE
⚾️🎟 https://t.co/FpVYoaIe2Z pic.twitter.com/1TyQ0capY8
Baseball continues homestand after spring break
As you might've glimpsed in the above tweet, MT Baseball is staying home for Spring Break this week as well, hosting Evansville for a three-game weekend series starting on Friday at 3 p.m.
Back at home for another 3⃣ this weekend!
— MT Baseball (@MT_Baseball) March 6, 2023
🗓 March 10-12
📍 Murfreesboro, TN
🆚 Evansville
📺 ESPN+ #BLUEnited | #BlueCrew pic.twitter.com/jQsOZOn1nU
If you can't join us in Frisco for the C-USA Tournament, I can think of no better way to start the weekend with some Blue Raiders on the diamond at Reese Smith Jr. Field and Blue Raider Softball Field. Make sure to head out this weekend!
Men's Tennis picks up plethora of rankings as it heads to Chicago for Spring Break Swing
👀 some #BlueRaiders in the new ITA rankings!
— MT Men's Tennis (@MT_MensTennis) March 7, 2023
#⃣2⃣9⃣ - #BlueRaiders
#⃣4⃣6⃣ - Oskar Brostrom Poulsen/Francisco Rocha
#⃣8⃣2⃣ - Stijn Slump
#⃣9⃣9⃣ - Oskar Brostrom Poulsen#BLUEnited pic.twitter.com/S4xXVvK5PB
New Orleans ✈️ Chicago#BLUEnited pic.twitter.com/p8wp3Gmqmx
— MT Men's Tennis (@MT_MensTennis) March 6, 2023
Women's Golf enjoying Hawai'i in final round of play
When I started writing this section midday here in Frisco, Middle Tennessee Women's Golf had not even teed off from Round 3 of the Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational at the Par 72 Hoakalei Country Club on 'Ewa Beach in Oahu, Hawai'i. Which, after being out that way for the Hawai'i Bowl, sounds about right for the time change!
Couldn't ask for better weather or a more beautiful place to compete! Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational starts tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/vLMFiV8eBK
— MT Women's Golf (@MT_WGolf) March 6, 2023
But coming back after seeing our teams check in to the hotel today, it was clear that the Blue Raiders had a stellar day on the course, posting the low team score for the final round on the strength of under par scores from Abbie Lee and Molly Bebelaar!
Won the day.#BlueRaiders pic.twitter.com/df44PfODx3
— MT Women's Golf (@MT_WGolf) March 7, 2023
Abbie Lee tied her career low and moved 14 spots up the leaderboard in the final round! #BlueRaiders pic.twitter.com/0cLKwBDW1U
— MT Women's Golf (@MT_WGolf) March 7, 2023
Molly Bebelaar's five birdies led the way today!#BlueRaiders pic.twitter.com/ekYtJCUt0N
— MT Women's Golf (@MT_WGolf) March 7, 2023
Players Mentioned
