Southern Miss
Middle Tennessee State
Volleyball Falls 3-2 To Middle Tennessee
9/4/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 4, 2010
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Redshirt junior outside hitter Ashley Mell notched a match-high 24 kills, but it wasn't enough as Southern Miss fell 3-2 to Middle Tennessee in a hard-fought five set match on day two of the MT Blue Raider Bash.
The Eagles dropped to 4-1 with the 21-25, 16-25, 25-23, 25-23, 10-15 loss in day two of the MT Blue Raider Bash. USM hit .259 to MT's .344 and the Blue Raiders out blocked the Eagles 14.0 to 6.0.
Sophomore Halie Ecker added 13 kills while Lisa Knecht tallied 19 digs. Kelsea Seymour recorded 55 assists and seven kills.
In the first set, both teams played evenly to start the set. There were seven ties before MT got back-to-back kills to forge a 13-11 lead. Southern Miss trailed by as many as three points on three occasions, but was able to battle back behind a Mell kill and a pair of MT miscues. With the set tied at 20-20, MT used a pair of kills and a hitting error by USM to go up 23-20. After a service error, MT finished the set with a kill and ace for the 25-21 win.
MT's Izabela Kozon served for the first four points for Middle Tennessee but the Eagles tried to regroup after a timeout and pulled to within 5-3. MT built the lead to 12-4 and did not let up for the remainder of the set. The Blue Raiders cruised to a 25-16 win.
The third set started like the first set with the two teams battling back and forth. The entire set featured 18 ties and seven lead changes. Neither team could muster more than a two-point advantage during the set. MT led 22-20 forcing a Southern Miss timeout. Following the timeout, the Eagles got a pair of kills an ace to take a 23-22 lead. MT responded after a timeout to tie the set at 23-23, but Seymour and Halie tallied back-to-back kills to give the Eagles a 25-23 win.
In the fourth set, Southern Miss .406 led by Mell's eight kills on .727 hitting percentage. The Eagles trailed 19-17 and came back to win 25-23. Southern Miss forced MT into a deciding fifth set. There, the Eagles did not get off to a good start, falling behind 11-4. The Eagles battled to within three, 13-10, but MT was able to hold on for the 15-10 win.
Southern Miss plays Miami (FL) in a 3 p.m. match later today.
