Lady Raider Volleyball Falls in First Round of Sun Belt Tourney

DENVER, CO - Middle Tennessee volleyball, seeded No. 4 in the East, fell in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament 1-3 (30-12, 27-30, 27-30, 23-30) to No. 5 from the West New Orleans Wednesday in Hamilton Arena on the campus of Denver University.

The Lady Raiders came out in game one and dominated the game, hitting a season high .433 for a single game. In the games that followed MT was hampered by costly errors and missed assignments.

"We opened up game two with an error and that really hurt us," said Head Coach Lisa Kissee. "Our errors in game two and three gave New Orleans hope and they took the ball and ran with it."

Middle Tennessee was led by Sun Belt Freshman of the Year Shakeithia Deckard who had a double-double with 17 kills and 14 digs and an attack percentage of .262. Junior Erin Hillstrom was the only other Lady Raider with a double-double with 14 kills and 14 digs, and Karisse Baker led the team in attack percentage with .429 on 11 kills and 21 total attacks.

"I think Shakeithia and Karisse really stepped it up in the match," Kissee said. "Overall we just didn't play aggressively and that cost us the match."

Middle Tennessee falls to 9-22 overall and UNO improves to 11-17. The Lady Raiders will compete in their last tournament of the season when the team travels to Tuscaloosa, AL to compete in the Turkey Classic on Saturday November 24.

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