MTSU Opens Conference Play at Sam Houston

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – On Thursday and Friday, September 26 & 27, Middle Tennessee volleyball (4-8, 0-0) will travel to Huntsville, Texas to take on Sam Houston (5-6, 0-0) to open conference play. Sam Houston is 5-6 on the season, with their most recent match being a victory over Texas Southern. The games will both be at 6:30 p.m. CT and Thursday's match will be streamed on ESPN+. Live stats can be found at Stat Broadcast.

The Blue Raiders are coming off of one of their best performances of the season, a 3-0 sweep over Alabama A&M. In the match, the Blue Raiders hit a very impressive .337. This was in large part due to the performances of the middle blockers, Kiera Booth and Emma Nilson. The two of them combined hit an unfathomable .649 on 27 kills. They also tallied eight blocks between the two of them.

Coming off a performance where she recorded her 100th career service ace and 100th career dig, senior Laure Jansen stayed hot, recording two service aces and 19 digs, good for an outstanding 6.33 digs/set. Jansen is now at 200 digs on the season, leading the team. To go along with Jansen, Alivia Bronner helped defensively tallying 10 digs.

Scouting Sam Houston
This will be the fourth matchup vs. Sam Houston for Middle Tennessee volleyball in program history. The Blue Raiders hold a 2-1 record with the last matchup being a victory for MTSU on October 8, 2023. Sam Houston is led by Head Coach Brenda Gray who is in the midst of her 41st season at the helm. Gray ranks among the top 10 active NCAA Division I women's head coaches with 763 career victories.

Offensively, the Bearkats are led by a three-headed monster of McKenzie Morvant, Lylah Washington, and Alyssa Fielder who are top three in digs on the team. Defensively, defensive specialist Hannah Baker leads the way with 195 digs, good for 4.76 per set.

Quick Facts

Freshman Andi Spies recorded the first triple-double in program history during the 25-point era, earning her CUSA Freshman of the Week (Sept. 9). Spies took home a second consecutive CUSA Freshman of the Week (Sept. 16) making her the second player to win consecutive in the same season (Adriana Rhoda).
On Sept. 17 at Virginia, senior Laure Jansen reached the historic milestones of 100 career service aces and 1000 career digs, doing so on the same night. She is now at 200 digs on the season.
Junior Adriana Rhoda was named to the preseason CUSA All-Conference team and leads the team with 165 kills. Rhoda is at 995 points in her career needing 5 more to reach 1000 in her career, in just her junior year.
Freshman Emma Nilson recorded the highest single-game blocks/set ratio for a freshman in program history during the 25-point era vs. Arkansas State, recording 3.0 blocks/set.

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

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Players Mentioned

Kiera Booth

Alivia Bronner

Laure Jansen

Emma Nilson

Adriana Rhoda

Andi Spies

Middle Tennessee State University Athletics