Middle Tennessee State’s head coach Matt Peck was ready to get out of Diddle Arena after Friday night’s match against Western.

Peck packed up his things and was ready to shake hands with Western head coach Travis Hudson before the last game of the night was even over.

“My mom said he turned to his bench after the 20th point and said, ‘go ahead and pack up your bags, we’re leaving,” sophomore middle hitter Emily Teegarden said.

The Lady Toppers improved their record to 12-3 on the season and 1-0 in the Sun Belt after defeating the Blue Raiders, who were ranked 23rd by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, 3-1.

The win against the AVCA No. 23 Blue Raiders is the first time in school history that the Lady Toppers have defeated a ranked team.

“It’s history at Western,” Teegarden said. “It just feels good to be a part of this team to make history here.”

But Western’s night didn’t start out well.

The Lady Toppers lost the first game 16-25, before coming back in the second game to win 25-21.

Team members didn’t come out like their normal selves and had to settle into their own groove, Hudson said.

The team went into the locker room after the second game where Hudson was able to talk to the Lady Toppers about what they needed to improve.

“Honestly, I wasn’t that uptight,” Hudson said. “My demeanor was very calm. It wasn’t so much what Middle Tennessee State was doing to us in game one, we just weren’t executing. I think we were too tight and weren’t passing very well, and when you don’t pass well it looks ugly.”

The Lady Toppers struggled with their serving throughout the night collecting 14 serving errors.

It was inexcusable mistakes from players who are experienced, Hudson said.

Western finished off the Blue Raiders in the last game 25-16.

At one point in the final game the score was 19-9, and the Lady Toppers didn’t let up.

“We knew from point one that it was going to be over fast,” junior outside hitter Abbie Siljendahl said. “We said in the huddle, ‘this is our court and this is our home gym, and they’re not coming in and doing what they did in the first game.’”

Reach Ryan Carey at sports@chherald.com.