A late rally from the Lady Toppers fell short, and Western suffered its first home loss of the season tonight 3-1 (25-23, 26-24, 20-25, 26-24)  against Middle Tennessee State in Diddle Arena.

An error-prone first half sent Western (16-7, 5-3 Sun Belt Conference) to the locker room down 2-0 at halftime.  Western lost the first set 23-25 and was a point away from winning the second set, but MTSU scored five straight points to win it 26-24.

“It was disappointing the way that set ended, but I was pleased with how the team responded,” coach Travis Hudson said.

The Lady Toppers had 16 errors in the first half, and the Blue Raiders hit at least .400 in both sets, but freshman libero Sarah Rogers said Western’s ‘never say die attitude’ came alive in the second half.

“We did a whole lot better the second half, both offensively and defensively, but Middle’s attitude was just better than ours,” Rogers said.

Western won the third set 25-20 and pulled within a point of bringing the match to a fifth set before MTSU closed it out.

“Middle just made more plays than us, simple as that,” Hudson said. “But it is one of those losses where we can hold our heads up and look at each other in the eyes in the locker room.”

Rogers said the team needs to do a better job of closing games out.

“We were so close a few times in winning sets, but we couldn’t get it done,” she said.

Rogers led the team with 15 digs and was a large part of Western’s comeback.

“She made some huge plays for us, like she always does,” Hudson said. “She has a bright future for us.”

Four players had at least eight kills for Western.

Western will be back on the road Thursday, facing Louisiana-Monroe at 5 p.m.