Tigers Volleyball Opens Season This Weekend

Friday, August 25

Charleston, Ill.

4 pm CT

University of Memphis

Bradley

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Aug 24, 2017 | Women's Volleyball

Squad plays in Eastern Illinois Panther Invitational.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The preseason practices are over. The scrimmages are too. And, no one is happier than the 19 players on the University of Memphis volleyball roster as the season-opening matches finally arrive this weekend. The Tigers travel to Charleston, Ill., to play in the Eastern Illinois Panther Invitational.

Eastern Illinois Panther Invitational Schedule

Date/Day	Opponent	Time (CT)
Aug. 25/Friday	Bradley	4 p.m.
Aug. 26/Saturday	Eastern Illinois	1 p.m.
	Green Bay	4 p.m.

Memphis/Opponents Breakdown

	Memphis	Bradley	Eastern Illinois	Green Bay
2016 Record/Conf.	15-17/7-13 AAC	7-22/2-16 MVC	5-26/2-14 OVC	21-9/12-4 Horizon
# Returnees	8	10	11	8
Ret. Kills Leader	Tai Bierria, 193	Erica Haslag, 320	Maria Brown, 273	Lydia DeWeese, 315
Ret. Assists Leader	Regan Comperry, 731	Abby Ihrke, 76	Gina Furlin, 507	Maddie Yoss, 1228
Ret. Digs Leader	Mady Ruhlman, 414	Abby Ihrke, 407	Lindsey Powers, 377	Austyn Everingham, 498
Ret. Blocks Leader	Brianna Kadiku, 92	Kathryn Graf, 41	Abby Knight, 113	Lydia DeWeese, 187

Head coach April Jauregui comments on season-opening weekend
"We're going to have a lot of young players contributing on the court for us this opening weekend. We have a roster of 19 players and all can contribute. Obviously, we want to play solid volleyball this weekend, but it's also about making adjustments and giving players opportunities. If a lineup is doing well, we may stick with it a little longer, but our hope is to get as many players on the floor as possible and see how they respond.

"We track stats in practice, so it's pretty clear now what we might do in the first match. But, once you play your first opponent, things can change quickly. We do feel good with the pieces we have and what we'll put on the floor.

"We do hit the road early, but we owe those teams return matches since they played here last season. That's ok. With a young team, it's actually good for them to be on the road early. Going on the road forces them to be together, and they have fewer distractions. Sometimes you play better in early-season road matches than you do at home."

Tigers Tidbits

Memphis actually opens 2017 with its first nine matches away from its homecourt, the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. The Tigers play at the Eastern Illinois Panther Invitational this weekend, and then travel to Conway, Ark., for the UCA Invitational Sept. 1-2 and to Ruston, La., for the Louisiana Tech Invitational Sept. 8-9.
Head coach April Jauregui enters 2017 six wins shy of 150 for her career at Memphis.
In its history, Memphis is 1-1 vs. Bradley, 3-3 vs. Eastern Illinois and 2-0 vs. Green Bay.
Three Tigers are making trips back to their home state of Illinois this weekend. Sophomore Allison Grzebien is from Des Plaines, Kate Hoerdemann from Bloomington and Alyssa Kronberg from Palatine.
The 2017 Tigers roster features eight newcomers – six freshmen, two transfers – that could see match action this weekend.