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Liberty University
5-6
Middle Tennessee
3-10
Liberty Races to 3-0 Win Over Middle Tennessee
9/17/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Liberty volleyball team earned a hard-fought, 25-23, set-one victory over Middle Tennessee, and the Lady Flames went on to sweep the Blue Raiders, 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-23) Saturday at VCU's Siegel Center.
Liberty (5-6) has won its first two matches at this weekend's VCU Invitational. The Lady Flames take on host VCU at 5 p.m., with the winner of that contest claiming the tournament championship. Middle Tennessee (3-10) went 1-2 during the invitational.
For the match, Liberty held a .275-.140 advantage in hitting percentage. The Lady Flames also led, 4-2 in blocks and 57-45 in digs. MT led in aces, 5-3.
Liberty's Casey Goodwin and Gabrielle Vess tied for match-high honors in kills, with 11 apiece. Sydney Morris recorded a double-double, totaling 10 kills and 10 digs. Anna Willey registered a match-high 37 assists to go with 12 digs for her 16th career double-double, while Margaret Latchford collected nine digs.
Four Blue Raiders registered seven kills each, while Regan Coughlin added two aces and 10 digs to her seven kills. Jacqueline Lux dished out 33 assists, and Meg Irvin collected 12 digs.
Liberty made a late comeback to claim the first set. Delaney Gallagher served an ace for a 22-20 Blue Raider lead. Middle Tennessee led, 23-21, following an Aubrey Huddleston kill. Morris then scored a pair of kills in Liberty's 4-0, set-clinching run.
The Lady Flames hit .405 during set one, compared to .286 for the Blue Raiders. Morris and Vess both scored five first-set kills.
During set two, Liberty took control, leading 20-14 after Anna Gragg's kill. Middle Tennessee responded with a 3-0 run, trimming the deficit to 20-17. The Lady Flames pulled away, winning 25-18 on Goodwin's fourth kill of the set. Liberty outhit MT, .211-.049, during the second session.
The final set was tightly contested, featuring 13 ties and three lead changes. With Liberty ahead, 18-17, the teams traded the next nine serves, as a Morris kill gave Liberty a 23-21 advantage. Sirena Vorster's kill made it 24-21, before a pair of Liberty errors narrowed the gap to 24-23. A Blue Raider service error then ended the match. The Lady Flames hit .206 in set three, compared to .087 for the Blue Raiders.
Liberty wraps up the non-conference portion of its schedule this evening, facing the host VCU Rams at 5 p.m.
