University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
SMU
Volleyball Hosting League Leading SMU Friday
Nov 05, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
Tigers in the midst of a five-match home stand.
MEMPHIS – The Memphis volleyball team (14-11, 5-7 American) will host league-leading SMU (21-3, 11-1 American), Friday at 7 p.m. as the mid-point of a five-match homestand in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. The Mustangs come in to the road match at Memphis carrying an 11-match winning streak and are currently just three spots out of the AVCA Top 25 in the coaches' poll.
"SMU is a top-25 caliber team," Head Coach April Jauregui said. "They're very good, but I think in our conference, anything can happen and that's what we are preparing for. You really want to be accelerating here in this part of the season with just eight matches left, and we kind of hit a plateau, so we've been trying some different pieces to see if that's going to give us a boost."
Part of that change as of late is the addition of freshman middle Kelsey Walter to the starting line-up. After coming off the bench in a 3-2 win at Houston, where she downed a career-best nine kills, Walter made her first career home start on Sunday, tying that career high of nine kills in a 3-1 loss to second place Temple.
"We knew this would be a tough stretch coming back home and facing teams tied with us and above us in the standings," Jauregui said. "Both of those teams we played last weekend are playing extremely well."
Memphis is looking to snap a three-match losing streak that has found the Tigers without a single double-digit kill leader in three straight matches. While the offense has been balanced, the last time a Tiger individual had double digit kills was in the 3-0 road win at Tulsa where McKenzie Hayes finished with 11 kills.
"Our spirit is good, our energy is good," Jauregui said. "There's still eight matches left, and anything can happen in this conference. We just need to stay motivated."
Admission for all Memphis home volleyball matches is free. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
