Tigers Volleyball Drops Season Opener Friday

Friday, August 25

Charleston, Ill.

4 pm CT

University of Memphis

0-1

Bradley

1-0

Bradley

Memphis

Aug 25, 2017 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Memphis-Bradley Boxscore 2017 Memphis Statistics

Kadiku with career-high kills, Myers with a double-double.

CHARLESTON, Ill. – University of Memphis sophomore Brianna Kadiku posted a career-high 14 kills and added four total blocks, but it wasn't enough as the Tigers dropped a 3-1 decision to Bradley in their 2017 season opener Friday. Bradley defeated Memphis in four sets by scores of 25-23, 25-18, 22-25 and 25-20.

The match was part of the Eastern Illinois Panther Invitational, which continues Saturday. Below is the Tigers' schedule for Saturday.

Eastern Illinois Panther Invitational Schedule

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

Head coach April Jauregui comments on Friday's match
"We played hard and put it all out there. Our defense was impressive. We just struggled to consistently convert our defense into points. We had six players play NCAA Division I volleyball for the first time today, so we anticipate a little bit of a learning curve. We have to learn quickly though, as we face two more strong opponents tomorrow."

Tigers Tidbits

Faith Myers collected a career-high 16 digs. Her previous career-best was 12 digs vs. Houston in 2016 and ECU in 2015.
Myers had 25 assists and 16 digs for her 16^th career double-double.
Freshman Alyssa Kronberg collected 26 digs, the most by a Tiger in a four-set match since the 2014 season. The last time a Tigers player had more digs in a four-set match was Aleksandra Petronijevic, who registered 36 digs at SMU Nov. 5, 2014.
Brianna Kadiku logged 14 kills for her second career double-figures kills performance.
Six Tigers newcomers saw action in Friday's match. They were redshirt freshman Natale Zanellato, junior college transfer Kelsea Bivins and freshmen Hannah Flowers, Kate Hoerdemann, Kronberg and Daija Lowe.
Two Tigers played in their "homecoming" match. Hoerdemann (Bloomington) and Kronberg (Palatine) call the state of Illinois home.

Bradley vs. Memphis Stats Leaders

Statistic	Memphis	Bradley
Kills	Hannah Flowers, 14 Brianna Kadiku, 14	Erica Haslag, 20 Jamie Livaudais, 12
Assists	Faith Myers, 25	Hannah Angeli, 46
Digs	Alyssa Kronberg, 26	Yavianliz Rosado, 31
Total Blocks	Brianna Kadiku, 4 Daija Lowe, 4	Kathryn Graf, 8

How It Happened

Overall Match
- Bradley took the first two sets and held on for the victory 3-1.
- The match was a competitive one with 23 ties and 11 lead changes.
Set One
- The Braves grabbed a 9-5 lead, but Memphis responded with five-straight points to take a 10-9 advantage. Four of those five points came on kills from Flowers, Kadiku, Lowe and Natale Zanellato.
- After Memphis pulled out to a 16-13 lead, Bradley put together a 7-1 run to take control of the first set at 20-17.
- The Braves had a 24-21 lead, but consecutive kills from Lowe closed the gap at 24-23.
- Bradley ended the Tigers' rally with a kill to finish the first set 25-23.
Set Two
- Bradley grabbed a 6-5 lead and never looked back on the way to a 25-18 win in the second set.
- A Lowe kill kept the Tigers close at 10-9, but the Braves ran off on a 10-4 spurt to jump out to a 20-13 lead.
- From there, Bradley maintained its advantage for set win.
Set Three
- Memphis responded in a big way to open the third set, jumping to a 7-1 lead.
- Four of the Tigers' seven points came on kills from Tai Bierria (1), Flowers (2) and Kadiku (1).
- Bradley answered with a 14-8 run to tie the set at 15-all.
- The next 10 points produced five ties, with the final one at 20-all.
- Memphis gained a 22-20 edge on kills from Bierria and Lowe, only to see the Braves tie the set at 22-all.
- The Tigers closed the third set with the final three points for the 25-22 win. Two Kadiku kills helped seal the victory.
Set Four
- The fourth set opened with four ties in the first 14 points.
- Bradley pulled away from the 7-all tie with a 7-3 run to take a 14-10 advantage.
- Memphis closed to within one at 16-15 on a Kelsey Walter kill, but was unable to get the equalizer the remainder of the match.
- The Braves used a 7-2 spurt to build a 23-17 lead on the way to a 25-20 fourth-set win and a 3-1 match victory.