HINSHAW DOUBLE-DOUBLE NOT ENOUGH AS UT MARTIN VOLLEYBALL FALLS TO MIDDLE TENNESSEE IN FOUR SETS

Tuesday, October 22

Martin, Tenn.

6 p.m.

UT Martin

7-16

Middle Tennessee

8-13

Middle Tennessee

UT Martin

HINSHAW DOUBLE-DOUBLE NOT ENOUGH AS UT MARTIN VOLLEYBALL FALLS TO MIDDLE TENNESSEE IN FOUR SETS

10/22/2019 10:27:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score PDF

MARTIN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin closed nonconference play with a 3-1 setback (23-25, 25-23, 20-25, 25-27) as the Skyhawks could not outduel Middle Tennessee in an offensive shootout this evening.

UT Martin hit .253 for the match, including an impressive .452 attack percentage in the second set. Kenzie Hinshaw engineered the Skyhawk offense with 42 assists in addition to five kills and a team-high 12 digs. Logan Wallick posted a team-high 18 kills while Karen Scanlon (season-best 15 kills) and Gintare Mackeviciute (11 kills, .733 hitting percentage on 15 swings) also stood out offensively.

Mackeviciute (team-high five blocks) and Lucy Kaufman (10 digs) helped guide UT Martin defensively but the Skyhawks could not find an answer for a Blue Raider squad that hit .375 for the match.

The first set alone included 15 tie scores and nine lead changes. After a Hinshaw service ace opened the scoring, UT Martin used a 4-0 run to go on top by a 9-6 margin. Middle Tennessee briefly retook the lead but kills by Scanlon and Justine Walker helped tilt the score back in favor of the Skyhawks at 14-12. The Blue Raiders notched five unanswered points but UT Martin reclaimed the advantage late thanks to back-to-back Hinshaw kills. The Skyhawks were ahead 23-22 but Middle Tennessee rallied to take the final three points.

Scanlon caught fire in the early stages of the second set, accounting for five kills out of the team's first nine points. UT Martin stretched its lead out to four at one point before the two sides amazingly alternated points for 20 consecutive rallies. The Skyhawks pushed their lead out to set point (24-20) before the Blue Raiders scored three unanswered points to make things tight. Wallick held the answer – slamming down a big kill to end the set and even the match at 1-all.

UT Martin jumped out to a big lead in the third set, doubling up Middle Tennessee by a 10-5 margin after a Walker kill. However, the Blue Raiders generated an extended run – scoring 12 of the next 14 points – to go on top 17-12. Two straight Mackeviciute kills and another kill by Wallick whittled the Skyhawk deficit to 22-20. Middle Tennessee responded with the last three points of the set for a 2-1 advantage in the match.

The fourth set was nearly a reversal of the third, as the Blue Raiders tallied an 8-4 lead early. UT Martin slowly kept chipping away and eventually zoomed past for a 21-16 advantage, largely in part to Wallick (five kills, one block assist and one service ace in the span of nine points). That momentum appeared to propel the Skyhawks into forcing a decisive fifth set but Middle Tennessee would not go away. The Blue Raiders accrued nine of the final 12 points down the stretch to take the match.

UT Martin returns to Ohio Valley Conference play this weekend, as it heads to Music City to square off against Belmont on Friday, Oct. 25 and Tennessee State on Saturday, Oct. 26.