Volleyball sweeps FIU in weekend finale

MIAMI - After losing at FIU last season, the Middle Tennessee volleyball team exacted a bit of revenge on Sunday with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-12, 25-18) victory over the Panthers at U.S. Century Bank Arena in Miami.

Ashley Adams led the way for the Blue Raiders with a match-high 14 kills at a scorching .500 rate. Oyinlola Oladinni was second on the team with eight and Alyssa Wistrick added six.

As a team, Middle Tennessee had 35 kills to FIU's 29 and out-hit the Panthers .268 to .096.

The Blue Raiders also had another strong serving day with six aces, led by two apiece from Kendall Howard and Brynne Henderson.

Oladinni and Adams each posted four blocks, and Middle Tennessee had 10 total team blocks to FIU's three. Lindsay Cheatham and Peterson each chipped in three.

Oladinni also led all Blue Raiders with seven digs, and Howard was second with six.

Middle Tennessee (5-9, 3-1 SBC) led off the first set with an Oladinni service ace and would never trail en route to a 25-20 victory in the opening stanza.

Middle Tennessee extended their lead out to 9-4 thanks to a handful of FIU errors, but the Panthers came back quickly with five consecutive points to force a Blue Raider timeout.

However, MT responded forcefully with a 9-2 run to grab an 18-11 advantage. Adams and Oladinni were key in the match-changing stretch, combining for 7.5 of the points.

Similar to Friday's match, Middle Tennessee parlayed the run into a second set rout, winning 25-12 to go up 2-0 in the match.

FIU grabbed their first lead of the match at 1-0, but Adams answered with back-to-back kills and the Panthers wouldn't lead again in the set. A few minutes later, Howard held serve for seven straight points to give Middle Tennessee a 13-4 advantage and put it out of reach for FIU.

The Blue and White held the Panthers to a negative attack percentage in the frame, out-hitting FIU .333 to -.083.

It was close in the early goings in the third set, which featured four ties, but Middle Tennessee rode three straight points, punctuated with a monster Cheatham kill to go up 15-10.

The Blue Raiders would not be seriously challenged down the stretch, securing a third consecutive sweep and setting up a showdown at Western Kentucky on Tuesday in Bowling Green.

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