MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – After falling behind two sets to one, the Old Dominion volleyball team stormed back to defeat Middle Tennessee, 3-2 (25-21, 20-25, 20-25, 25-23, 15-13) on Monday afternoon and split its series with the Blue Raiders.
"Conviction won the day today. This match, like yesterday's, became a brawl," said head coach Fred Chao. "Today we played with conviction to do our jobs, and the intensity to remain focused throughout. The team stepped up to the mark, and we continue to grow."
ODU opened the first set of the afternoon evenly, trading points with the Blue Raiders. A pivotal kill by Ashley Peroe changed course for the Monarchs, leading 11-8 as they went on to hold the lead the rest of the set, and win 25-21, in set one. The Monarchs put together a .333 hitting percentage in the first set.
Following a set-opening kill from Middle Tennessee, Hailey Duncan responded with an ODU (4-3, 2-2 C-USA) kill. However, the Blue Raiders mounted an 8-3 offensive run, which forced Chao to take a timeout. Alessia Sgherza hammered a kill coming out of the break and put ODU within four points. Middle Tennessee held onto a slight advantage but ODU kept clawing back, and eventually tied up the second set, 16-16 after back-to-back Blue Raider errors. The second set remained highly contested, but following an ODU timeout, the Blue Raiders compiled a 6-3 scoring run to come away with a 25-20 victory in set two.
At the break, Middle Tennessee (1-4, 1-2 C-USA) had 14 more kills than the Monarchs, despite the match being tied up, 1-1.
Middle Tennessee came out of the break on a hot start, owning an early 6-2 lead, which forced Chao to utilize a Monarch timeout. The Blue Raiders continued its offensive rally, and went on to win the third set, wire-to-wire and move onto the fourth with a, 2-1 advantage over ODU.
In the fourth set, Middle Tennessee opened up strong, starting with a 7-1 advantage. A Duncan kill put ODU back on the board and mounted a 5-1 ODU scoring run, which closed the deficit to just two points in the fourth set. The Blue Raiders opened up a three-point lead but not long after, ODU went on a 5-0 scoring run to gain a two-point advantage following three-straight ODU kills and an Atilano service ace. Middle Tennessee took a timeout and responded with back-to-back points, evening the game, 15-15. Once again, ODU responded with a 4-0 run to give the Monarchs a 19-15 advantage. Despite Blue Raider efforts, ODU held onto its lead and went on to defeat MTSU in the fourth set, 25-23, and force a fifth set for the second day in a row. The Monarchs hit .312 in the fourth set with an impressive 14 kills.
ODU brought the pressure for the fifth and final set, jumping out to a 7-4 lead. The Blue Raiders came back with a 4-2 scoring run, which forced ODU to take a timeout. Out of the short break, ODU picked up a Sgherza kill and a Sasha Grigoreva service ace to open up to an 11-8 lead. Middle Tennessee responded, notching three unanswered points, which led to an ODU timeout. The Monarchs gave up just two more points and outlasted the Blue Raiders in the fifth set, 15-13 to pick up its second C-USA win.
For the day, Sgherza (15) and Duncan (10) led ODU with a combined 25 kills. The Monarchs out blocked the Blue Raiders, 22-10.
Up Next
ODU will return home for the first time since its inaugural weekend and play host to Florida Atlantic on Sunday, Feb. 28 and Monday, March 1.
Volleyball Knocks Down Middle Tennessee in Five Sets
