Photo by Andrew Brown / MTSU Sidelines
The Middle Tennessee Blue Raider volleyball team (5-15, 1-15) was defeated by the Florida Atlantic Owls in straight sets on Sunday afternoon. It wasn’t a good day for the Blue Raiders as two of the three sets were lost by at least 12 points.
The Blue Raiders were plagued by errors and a lack of offensive execution. As a team, they only recorded 24 total kills and committed 16 total errors.
Florida Atlantic executed almost flawlessly on offense, recording 44 total kills and only seven errors throughout the game.
The Blue Raiders were led by Regan Coughlin, who recorded a team-high five kills. Josie Maxim also recorded four kills and a .500 hitting clip. Taylor Hammill led the team in assists with 16.
Defensively, the Blue Raiders benefited from a team-high six digs from Coughlin.
The Owls were led by freshman outside hitter Sydney Nemtuda, who recorded a team-high 11 kills on a .526 hitting percentage. Junior libero Alex Cardona also recorded a game-high 16 digs, and junior setter Ivone Martinez contributed a game-high 37 assists.
The loss puts the Blue Raiders in last place in the C-USA standings with their conference record falling to 1-5.
“This has been a really big learning month,” Coughlin said. “When we say ‘next ball mentality,’ it means make the next one not perfect, but just better than what you just had and keep increasing on that.”
The Blue Raiders continue conference play on Friday as they travel to San Antonio to take on the UTSA Roadrunners (5-11, 3-1).
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