The Middle Tennessee (10-10, 2-6 CUSA) women’s volleyball team took on the Liberty University Flames (16-5, 4-4 CUSA) over the weekend in a Conference USA matchup, splitting a series that went down to a fifth set in both games.
Freshmen standouts Raegan Durbin and Gabrielle Clinkscale showed out against Liberty. Durbin tallied 44.5 points on 38 kills and 19 digs, while Clinkscale finished her weekend with 34 points on 34 kills.
“I think they are still growing,” head coach Alexa Keckler said. “There were some really great things, and then there were some things where we were like, ‘Oh, yep, they’re freshmen.’ I think from that perspective, they’re getting so much experience being on the court as first years, and they are going to continue to get better in those big-time moments.”
Friday night’s matchup was an intense back-and-forth match that went down to the wire in a fifth set, with the Blue Raiders winning the match 3-2.
MTSU dominated the first set and won 25-17 after snuffing out a comeback attempt by the Flames.
The second set was a change of pace for the Blue Raiders, getting outscored 14-6 early. Middle Tennessee fell just short to the Flames 25-20 in a set that showed a lot of passion and grit from both teams.
The third set started off rocky once again for MTSU, going down 6-1 early to the Flames. Late in the set, the Blue Raiders tied it up 24-24 with a kill from Clinkscale, but a service error by Caroline Macander made it 25-24. Liberty then blocked a ball from Clinkscale to win the set 26-24, in another close loss for the Blue Raiders.
Set four was the hardest-fought set of the night by both teams. A late rally saw the Blue Raiders extend their lead 13-8, with a diving attempt from Isil Yilmaz to keep the rally alive. Liberty clawed its way back into the set late and went up 25-24. The Blue Raiders finished out the set in dominant fashion, scoring three points in a row with the final point coming from an attack error by Liberty to secure the win 27-25.
The chaos continued into the fifth set, going down to the wire, with Keckler on the sidelines shouting “One more point” after going up 14-12 off a Clinkscale kill. An error by Durbin made the score 14-13, but the Blue Raiders pulled out the win, with Durbin making up for the error with a kill to end the set 15-13 and seal the win for MTSU 3-2.
“We’ve lost a couple of five-set matches, we were so close, and I’m just super proud of them for their fight.” Keckler said. “They didn’t give up, they just kept pushing, and I couldn’t be more proud. Each week, we continue to get better and better. Our defense is stepping up and we’re making some big plays.”
The second game started out well as the Blue Raiders jumped out to a 2-1 set lead over the Flames. However, down the stretch, the Flames outclassed the Blue Raiders as they were dominated in the last two sets.
Set one was tightly contested, but the Blue Raiders came out on top 26-24.
MTSU started strong in the second set, continuing to play good offense along with rallies that saw both teams with strong attempts to keep the ball in play. The Blue Raiders went down late in the set, 21-16, and it proved too much as they fell 25-23 to the Flames to end the set.
The Blue Raiders went into the third set with renewed energy, feeding off of Liberty errors. After tying it up at 17, the Blue Raiders rallied late and dominated the end of the set to win set three 25-19.
That energy didn’t last long as the Blue Raiders struggled with the fourth and fifth sets. In the fourth set, the Flames jumped out to a 7-2 lead and didn’t look back, winning the set 25-15.
The final set of the game started off close once more, with good offensive play from the Blue Raiders. Errors and offensive struggles late caused Middle Tennessee to fall too far behind, dropping the deciding fifth set 15-8.
With the loss in game two, MTSU’s record sits at 2-6 in CUSA play. The Blue Raiders return to action next week on Oct. 24 and 25 versus New Mexico State in another Conference USA matchup.
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