Blue Raiders take 3-0 win over Jags

MOBILE, Ala. - Middle Tennessee defeated South Alabama 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 26-24) on Friday night in the first of its final two games of the 2009 regular season.

The Blue Raiders (21-8, 14-2) knocked down 48 total kills for a .265 hitting percentage with senior Ashley Mead leading the way with 14 kills. Mead posted a .333 attack percentage with just four errors in 30 attempts.

We won 3-0, but we didn't play very well. We did just barely what we needed to do. We didn't practice yesterday (Thursday) because it was our day off, and it was tough having to get off the bus and go play. We did what we needed to do, and that was it," head coach Matt Peck said.

Juniors Alyssa Wistrick and Izabela Kozon added 10 kills each to aid the Blue Raider offense. Wistrick posted a hitting percentage of .615 as she went 10 for 13 with just two errors.

"Alyssa Wistrick did really well, both blocking and offensively, and so did Ashley Mead. They both scored a lot of points. We needed senior leadership, and we got it," Peck said.

Defensively, sophomore Stacy Oladinni led the net defense with seven block assists while the team as a whole had eight total blocks.

South Alabama had one more team block than the Blue Raiders but did not do enough offensively. The Jaguars had 28 total blocks for a .126 hitting percentage with Juliana Almeida leading the team with nine kills.

Kozon along with senior Ashley Waugh guided the backcourt defense with 10 digs each. Middle Tennessee had a total of 36 digs in the match.

The Blue Raiders round out the regular season at Troy on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. before getting a few days to prepare for the Sun Belt Championships in Bowling Green, Ky., as hosted by Western Kentucky.

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