‘The Weekend Recap’ is a summary documenting the weekend results of Middle Tennessee State University sports. This semester, the recap will keep track of Blue Raider basketball, baseball, softball and tennis.
Without further introduction, here’s everything that happened in Blue Raider sports over the weekend.
Women’s basketball gets revenge against Western Kentucky
Back in January, MTSU women’s basketball (19-6, 11-1 CUSA) fell at the hands of the Western Kentucky Lady Toppers (17-7, 8-4 CUSA) on the road. The loss marked the end of MTSU’s record 33-game Conference USA winning streak.
The Lady Raiders got their get back on Saturday afternoon with a 73-63 win in the Murphy Center.
The Lady Toppers tested MTSU early, hitting 6-7 3-pointers in the first quarter alone. The Lady Raiders soon adjusted, however, and WKU cooled as the game progressed. From the second quarter beyond, Western Kentucky shot 4-18 from beyond the arch.
Junior guard Ta’Mia Scott and senior center Anastasiia Boldyreva led the way for the Lady Raiders, combining for 45 of MTSU’s 73 points.
The Lady Raiders prevailed despite the Lady Toppers winning the rebound battle, 35-32. Coincidentally, MTSU out-rebounded Western Kentucky in the first meeting of the season in what resulted in a 63-58 WKU victory. The 6-foot-7 Boldyreva led the team in rebounds as per usual with 12 on the night.
In other statistical relevance, Freshman guard Savannah Davis saw a season high in minutes on Saturday, earning 29 minutes of game time. A 3-point shooter and facilitator, Davis finished the game with three points and a rebound.
As the Conference USA tournament nears, next up for MTSU is a road trip to face Louisiana Tech on Feb. 20. The Lady Raiders defeated the Lady Techsters 61-43 in their first meeting of the season at home
Men’s basketball completes sweep of Hilltoppers
MTSU men’s basketball (17-8, 8-4 CUSA) swept rival Western Kentucky (14-11, 5-7 CUSA) in the 100 Miles of Hate for the first time since the 2021-2022 season, winning 87-77.
Jlynn Counter started off hotter than a desert summer sun scoring 18 of MTSU’s 25 points in the first 10 minutes of play. Counter finished the game with 20 points to go along with the four other double-digit scorers. Essam Mostafa led the Blue Raiders on the night with 21 points while Camryn Weston added 20 points off the bench.
Head coach Nick McDevitt reached a milestone in style, picking up his 100th victory as MTSU’s coach against an archrival.
MTSU’s next contest is back at home against Louisiana Tech on Feb. 20, before taking on Sam Houston on Feb. 22 as the regular season begins to wind down.
Baseball drops season opening series to Bowling Green
Middle Tennessee baseball (1-2) dropped two of three games in its opening series this weekend against Bowling Green (2-1).
Offense prevailed for both sides this weekend, as there were 13 or more runs scored in each game.
The Blue Raiders kicked things off strong in game one Friday afternoon, in a rout of the Falcons 18-0. MTSU jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first, headlined by Hayden Miller’s first collegiate home run.
The firepower with the bats didn’t stop there, as head coach Jerry Meyers’ squad picked up two runs in the fourth, one in the sixth and seventh each, while finding seven runs in the eighth.
Two-way starter Trace Phillips got the nod on opening day, throwing six innings of shutout ball, picking up eight strikeouts while only surrendering four hits on the night.
After getting blown out in game one, the next two belonged to Bowling Green with a 7-6 victory in game two, and a 12-9 comeback in game three.
Bouncing back in game two, the Falcons got to MTSU’s Chandler Alderman in the third and fourth innings, ambushing him for five runs including two RBI singles off the bat of DJ Newman.
The Blue Raider offense once again had a strong showing, putting up six runs including a two-run homerun from catcher Tyler Minnick, but were unable to find success against the back end of the Falcons bullpen.
Game three belonged to the Blue Raiders early, putting up a run in each of the first three innings, including the first of two home runs on the day from Brett Vondohlen.
Drew Horn started game three for Middle Tennessee, turning in six innings of one-run ball in his debut.
With a cushioned 8-1 lead, Meyers turned to the bullpen in the sixth inning. Bowling Green responded by working across 11 runs against the Blue Raider relievers in four innings, including five (three earned) against graduate transfer Ethan Imbimbo.
With MTSU trailing 9-8 in the bottom of the ninth, Vondohlen hit his second home run of the night, sending a solo shot into the Floyd Stadium concourse behind the left field wall.
The game remained knotted up at 9-9, until the 11th inning when Newman broke through for Bowling Green with an RBI double. The Falcons added two more runs in the inning to shut the door on MTSU in the bottom half and close out the series.
MTSU will travel to face Alabama on Tuesday, Feb. 18, and host a three-game series against Fairleigh Dickinson next weekend.
Men’s tennis wrangles Oklahoma State
MTSU men’s tennis (6-6) welcomed Oklahoma State (2-7) into the Adams Tennis Complex on Friday and prevailed 5-2 over the Cowboys.
On the doubles courts, the tandem of Jakub Kroslak and Kacper Szymkowiak struck first for the Blue Raiders, running away with a 6-1 victory over Oklahoma State’s Isaac Becroft and Thomas Gadecki.
The No. 70 ranked duo of Karim Al-Amin and Ondrej Horak also picked up a win over their OSU opponents, clinching the doubles point for the Blue Raiders. The third doubles match, featuring MTSU’s Rostislav Halfinger and Shu Matsuoka, went unfinished.
On the singles courts, Freshman Kacper Szymkowiak extended his winning streak to ten matches, beating OSU’s Alessio Basile 7-6, 3-6, 6-2.
Horak and Halfinger also picked up wins in their matches. Matsuoka then grabbed a three-set win, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) to give the match win to the Blue Raiders. Meanwhile, Al-Amin lost to OSU’s Becroft and Kroslak fell short in a three-set marathon to OSU’s Derek Pham.
Friday’s win also marks career victory 250 for head coach Jimmy Borendame, making this win even more special for the team.
Next week, MTSU will host the Battle in the ‘Boro tournament, welcoming Utah, New Mexico and South Alabama to campus. The first match of the tournament will be Friday, Feb. 21 at 5 p.m. It’s set to be the first of the season at the new MTSU Outdoor Tennis Center.
Women’s tennis dominates at home
MTSU women’s tennis (6-3) returned to the court after almost a week off of action. The Blue Raiders had two home matchups this weekend against Belmont and Murray State.
Middle Tennessee started off the weekend on fire with a 6-1 victory over Belmont on Saturday, Feb. 15.
The Blue Raiders began the weekend against Belmont with sharp doubles performances as Ilaria Sposetti and Cassidy Mataia swept their match in a 6-0 victory along with Sara Conde and Lena Peyer winning 6-3.
While in singles, the Blue Raiders kept control as Conde won 6-2, 6-3 in just her second singles match and is now 2-0 in her short singles career.
Meanwhile, Alessia Truden picked up another singles victory 6-4, 6-1. Four of the six singles matches ended in straight sets.
The very next day, The Blue Raiders took on the Murray State Racers. Coming off a sound win over Belmont, the Blue Raiders brought the same energy against Murray State, winning 4-0.
In doubles action, Rutuja Chaphalkar and Truden took care of business in a 6-2 victory over the Racers. Sposetti and Mataia’s chemistry continued to build as they won their doubles match 6-4.
Truden carried over her doubles success to singles as she picked up the victory 6-4, 6-0. Along with her was Peyer winning both sets of her match 6-2, 6-2.
The Blue Raiders are now 5-0 at the Adams Tennis Complex and will look to stay undefeated at the ATC as their next match is against Austin Peay on Feb. 20.
Softball struggles in North Florida tournament
MTSU softball (3-7) headed to Jacksonville, Florida this weekend for the annual North Florida Tournament where it received five straight losses.
The Blue Raiders opened the tournament series against Uconn (4-4). The first inning consisted of early offense as both teams would score. MTSU scored via an RBI by Addy Edgmon.
The offensive explosion persisted as both teams would continue to trade scores. Ultimately it would be an extra run by UConn in the first inning that resulted in a 6-5 Huskie victory.
MTSU’s second game featured Jacksonville (6-4). The Blue Raiders came in with promise but were promptly met with Jacksonville’s tough pitching and offensive firepower.
The unrelentless pairing of these two throughout the entirety of the game would ultimately be too much for the Blue Raiders to overcome as they were shut out for the first time this season in a 9-0 defeat.
Middle Tennessee’s third game in the weekend tournament once again saw the team face off against UConn. While the game consisted of a staunch defensive show in contrast to the first, seven innings of play yielded the same result. A late extra inning push led the Huskies to grasp the win against Middle Tennessee, 4-3.
The final two games of the Florida series featured North Florida (9-3). The rapid Osprey offense paired with elite pitching wound up being too much for the Blue Raiders as they were shut out for the second time in the tournament and lost the final game 4-1.
Heading into next week, the Blue Raiders look for revenge as they play Jacksonville on Friday, Feb. 21 in the Mercer Tournament.
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