MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee volleyball (28-3) advanced to the Sun Belt Championship finals for the first time in school history with a 3-0 (30-19, 30-24, 31-29) blanking of Denver (16-10) Friday in the semi-finals of the Sun Belt Championships in Alumni Memorial Gym.
"The players are so excited to be playing in the finals," said Head Coach Matt Peck. "We worked hard all year to get here and now we have to play the match and see what happens."
The No. 2 seeded Blue Raiders will face No. 1 seed Western Kentucky for the Tournament title at 2:30 p.m. in the Alumni Memorial Gym. The match will be televised on ESPN Regional and simulcast simultaneously on WB 58 which is channel 18 on Comcast and 12 on Charter. The match will also be tape delayed on CSS at 7 p.m.
Middle Tennessee took control of the match early with Denver and never relented the constant barrage of the Pioneers. The Blue Raiders were on a mission and didn't stop until the last point was played and they were on their way to the Sun Belt Tournament finals.
"We played a very good Denver team today," Peck Said. "Again, like yesterday against Arkansas State, they pushed us and we pushed back."
The Blue Raiders ended the match with a .281 attack percentage and held Denver to a .142. Middle Tennessee committed just 17 errors and Denver had 26.
Junior outside hitter Andressa Lyra led the match with 19 kills and continued her streak of consecutive matches with double figure kills. Sophomore Victoria Monasterolo added 13 kills and setter Megan Sumrell added 41 assists.
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