Volleyball travels to archrival #18 WKU Friday

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Having won three of its last four matches, the Middle Tennessee volleyball team wraps up Sun Belt play Friday night at archrival #18 WKU. First serve is at 7 p.m. at E.A. Diddle Arena. The Blue Raiders have won the last four meetings against the Lady Toppers in Bowling Green, Ky.

Middle Tennessee is 7-7 in the Sun Belt and currently holds the number six seed for next week's Sun Belt Championships hosted by WKU. The Blue Raiders, Arkansas State, and North Texas each have seven wins but Middle Tennessee has two more losses than the other two schools. North Texas and Arkansas State play each other Friday night. A Blue Raiders win Friday night, along with two losses from either North Texas or Arkansas State this weekend, can move Middle Tennessee into fifth place.

The Blue Raiders split a pair of four-set matches last weekend at South Alabama and Troy. Middle Tennessee hit a season-high .331 in a 29-27, 25-21, 16-25, 25-18 win over the Jaguars last Friday. Chelsea Ross led Middle Tennessee with 17 kills as Katie Bange added 14 while hitting .346 for the match. Both Ross and Shelby Anderton had doubles-doubles in the Blue Raiders 3-1 (25-18, 21-25, 21-25, 19-25) loss at Troy on Saturday. Ross had 17 kills and 13 digs as Anderton had 42 assists and a season-high 13 digs.

 WKU enters Friday night's match ranked 18^th in the latest AVCA Coaches' Poll. The Lady Toppers secured the top-seed for the Sun Belt Championships last Friday with a 3-0 win at Troy. WKU has won its last 20 matches in a row, including a perfect 14-0 mark in Sun Belt play, and have dropped just one set in conference.

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