Blue Raiders Defeat St. Mary's 3-2

LINCOLN, Neb. - Middle Tennessee volleyball (4-2) played its first five-game match of the season and came out on top 3-2 (30-24,23-30,36-34,23-30,15-13) over St. Mary's of California (3-3) in the Blue Raiders' final match of the Nebraska Tournament Sunday.

The Blue Raiders took the early lead winning game one. St. Mary's tied the match with a win in game two. Middle Tennessee had its best game of the match in game three, with a .375 attack percentage with 26 kills and just eight errors. After St. Mary's tied it up again in game four, it set up the decisive game five.

Middle Tennessee found itself down early in game five, with St. Mary's taking the early lead 8-3. The Blue Raiders won four straight points to pull within one, 8-7, and St. Mary's Missie Stidham broke the Middle Tennessee streak with a kill to give St. Mary's a 9-8 lead. The Blue Raiders tied the game, 9-9, off a St. Mary's error.

Game five would be tied again at 10 and at 12 before the Blue Raiders would take the first lead of the game off a service error by St. Mary's Nikki Gonzalez. A second error by St. Mary's gave the Blue Raiders a 14-12 advantage. St. Mary's pulled within one, 14-13, before yet another 49ers error gave Middle Tennessee the win.

Sophomore Ashley Adams led both teams with 24 kills and she also had a .214 attack percentage. Adams was named to the All-Tournament team as she recorded 45 kills averaging 3.75 kills per game in the three match tournament. Fellow sophomore Ashley Asberry recorded a career-high 14 kills.

Middle Tennessee returns to action on Friday hosting the Blue Raider Bash. The Blue Raiders begin the tournament by hosting Miami of Ohio at 7:30 p.m.

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