USF Serves Up Tigers Home Loss

Friday, October 9

Memphis, Tenn.

7:00 PM

University of Memphis

11-7, 2-3American

USF

6-11, 3-2American

USF

Memphis

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Oct 09, 2015 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Memphis falls 3-1 to USF

By: Tammy DeGroff

MEMPHIS – After the two teams had split the opening sets of an American Athletic Conference matchup in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse, the USF Bulls (6-11, 3-2 American) held Memphis (11-7, 2-3 American) to a .148 hitting percentage and a .000 hitting percentage in the third and fourth sets in a 3-1 road win, Friday night.

"I think we just struggled in our passing," Head Coach April Jauregui said. "We got aced nine times, which is never a good thing, and I think we're still trying to find a little bit of an identity. We've really been struggling starting strong at home and that's something we've got to fix quick because we've got another match on Sunday."

The team that started strong carried the sets in the Friday night match. USF started the night with a 4-1 lead and went on to claim the set 25-22. Memphis bounced back and took a 5-1 lead in the second set, and went on to win 25-21, despite having to fight off a 9-3 USF run that tied the set at 23-23. In the third and fourth sets, it was the visiting Bulls that got the stronger start to the sets. USF jumped up 5-1 out of the intermission, forcing an early Memphis timeout and then got an 8-1 start to the fourth, and deciding, set. Down 20-12 in the fourth set, the Tigers tried to rally, but after fighting off three match points, hit in to a Bulls block to drop the match, 3-1.

Catlin Lilly was the lone Tiger to get double digit kills, finishing with a double-double of 16 kills and 14 digs. Veronica Zimmerman posted a season-high 20 digs as she scrambled behind the Tiger blockers, who tallied 11 blocks on the night, two off of a season best. Summer Morgan led Memphis with six blocks, but the offense could never get fired up and Memphis hit .094 for the night on 159 attacks.

"Our blocking as a whole has gotten better, but then our defense had some breakdowns. But what I'm concerned with is our offense was not clicking. In matches where we only have one or two players producing, we're usually going to struggle and not walk away with a w, so we need all five people to be scoring with the goals that we give them," Jauregui said.

USF was led by Dakota Hampton and her 13 kills and five service aces, including three straight in the third set. Alexus Heidelberg added 12 kills and tied for the game-high with 21 digs. Wylie Devlin also finished with 21 digs in the win.

The loss drops the Tigers to 2-3 in conference play with a Sunday match on the slate against UCF.

"We can't have too short of memories," Jauregui said. "Because we have lessons to learn. The way we fight when we are down is what we need to do the very first point of the match. That sense of urgency, I think if we come out with that urgency and passion, we'll see a very different result."

Memphis hosts UCF, Sunday, at 1 p.m. in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. That game will be the team's Dig Pink game.