Volleyball travels to Florida Atlantic and FIU this weekend

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The Middle Tennessee volleyball team begins a five-match road swing to end Sun Belt play this weekend. The Blue Raiders start this stretch with two matches in Florida this weekend. Middle Tennessee takes on Florida Atlantic on Friday night at 5:30 p.m. and FIU on Sunday at 12 p.m.

The Blue Raiders defeated both the Owls and Panthers at Alumni Memorial Gym on Oct. 12 and 13. MT beat Florida Atlantic 3-1 (25-21, 25-19, 17-25, 25-22) behind 17 kills by freshman outside hitter Chelsea Ross and a career-high 15 kills from Katie Bange. Bange also hit .560 in that match. As a team, the Blue Raiders hit .319 against the Owls and held Florida Atlantic to a .192 hitting percentage. MT swept FIU 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-20), hitting .379 against the Panthers. Ross had 14 kills in that match as Bange added 13.

Florida Atlantic (6-15, 1-9 Sun Belt) has lost its four matches in a row entering the weekend. Alessia Pizzocheri leads the Owls with 2.88 kills per set. Darija Sataric is second on the team with 2.66 kills per set. FIU played its way into a tie with the Blue Raiders for fourth place in the Sun Belt East last weekend, winning road matches at North Texas and ULM. Marija Prsa leads FIU in kills, averaging 3.59 per set to put her among the top-five in the Sun Belt. Kimberly Smith is fourth in the conference in blocks with 1.10 per set.

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