Blue Raiders look to turn luck around at tourney

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The Middle Tennessee volleyball team will hit the road to San Antonio, Texas for the UT-San Antonio Classic this weekend for its second away tournament in as many weeks.

The Blue Raiders (5-5) will be looking to snap a five-match losing streak when it begins the tournament on Friday with Rice (8-3) at noon. The Owls received eight votes in the AVCA Coaches' Poll this week.

Middle Tennessee will then face host UTSA later in the day. The Roadrunners ended last weekend 1-2 with those losses being to No. 10 Stanford and No. 8 Hawai'i.

The Blue Raiders round out the tournament with No. 3 Washington at noon on Saturday, Sept. 19. Washington has not lost a set this season and improved to 8-0 after wins over No. 9 Minnesota and No. 4 Florida last weekend.

The UTSA Classic will be a challenging on for the Blue Raiders but it is not a situation the seasoned team has not faced before. Middle Tennessee was ranked or receiving votes most of the 2008 season, in addition to facing ranked opponents, and lost just one starter off that team headed into this season.

Senior Ashley Mead had one of the best weekends of her collegiate career at the Miami/FIU Invitational last weekend and will be looking to improve upon that performance this week.

Junior Izabela Kozon and sophomore Stacy Oladinni also performed well for the Blue Raiders and will be looked to add assistance at the UTSA Classic.

Middle Tennessee will begin the tournament with Rice on Friday, Sept. 18 at noon. Then at 6 p.m. that night the Blue Raiders will play host UTSA. Middle Tennessee rounds out action on Saturday, Sept. 19 at noon with No. 3 Washington.

Live stats will be available for all three of Middle Tennessee's matches over the weekend as linked on golueraiders.com. Video will be available for the Blue Raiders match with host UTSA as linked on goblueraiders.com.

Follow the Blue Raiders on Twitter @MTAthletics for continued updates.