Volleyball begins weekend homestand versus Middle Tennessee on Friday night
10/19/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The mid-autumn fun continues for the Southern Miss volleyball team with two more matches at home Friday and Sunday. First up is a 6 p.m. tilt against the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders.
The match features a kids' Halloween costume contest, where the winner will receive two free tickets to the Oct. 28 football game versus UAB. Candy will also be distributed throughout the coliseum. The in-game action can be found on CUSA.tv.
Sunday's noon contest against Florida Atlantic is also Daddy/Daughter Day, which includes buy one, get one ticket specials and other fun activities for those who attend the special day.
Southern Miss (14-8, 4-2 C-USA) sits fifth in the league standings after a Monday afternoon sweep of UTEP. The squad had its highest in-conference hitting percentage since 2013, and Chandler Marshall was phenomenal with 12 kills, no errors and a .632 hitting percentage. Overall, it was a 12-0 run in the second set that truly put the match away. It was the Golden Eagles' second consecutive sweep after doing the same at Louisiana Tech the previous Friday.
Alexis Coombs has also stepped up her game in a tremendous way since conference play begun. In those matches, she is one of five to be in the top ten for hitting percentage (No. 10, .360) and blocks (No. 5, 1.23/set).
The Blue Raiders (6-16, 2-6 C-USA) lead the conference in service aces, boasting two members in the league's top ten (Dora Peonia has 20 against C-USA foes). MTSU most recently knocked off Charlotte in five sets and has its other league victory against LA Tech, also in five sets.
In the 2016 meeting between the teams, Southern Miss hit .371 en route to the road sweep. Grandy and Cat Repsher, who would go on to be the league's Freshman of the Year, hit .522 and .588, respectively, and combined for 26 kills. The 2015 bout, also a Golden Eagle sweep, was kind to a few players still on the 2017 squad. Grandy had nine kills in that one, Kelsey Chambers had eight and Sarah Bell was efficient with five kills (.500 hitting percentage) that complemented her 34 assists.
The overall series is tied 3-3 between the two teams.