Volleyball Opening Season at Georgia Tournament

Friday, August 28

Athens, Ga.

4:00 PM ET

University of Memphis

High Point

Tickets

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Aug 27, 2015 | Women's Volleyball

Tigers starting 2015 with three-match tournament in Athens.

Live Stats | Live Video (Georgia match only)

MEMPHIS – The University of Memphis women's volleyball team, fresh off a 23-11 season in 2014, is on the road and heading toward Athens, Georgia, where the Tigers will open the 2015 season at the Benson Hospitality Invitational with a trio of non-conference matches. Memphis will play one match on Friday, facing High Point, at 3 p.m. (CT). The Tigers then play a pair of Saturday matches, facing Wofford at 9 a.m. (CT), followed by a nightcap match against host Georgia at 6 p.m. (CT).

"We're excited to get on the floor Friday and finally see somebody else," Head Coach April Jauregui said. "You can only project your team on paper until you get in to the matches and see someone else to know where our team is really at right now."

Memphis will head in to the weekend looking to resolve who will fill the four starting spots open after graduation. Memphis had two middle spots open, along with one starting outside slot, and the team's starting libero spot.

"Last year was a fun year. We had a lot of pieces that were clicking, we had a really good defensive system and two strong middles, and we know going it to this year that's something we're focusing on," Jauregui said. "But the expectations for this year are still high. Even with losing four starters, we were picked to finish in the middle of the pack in the conference poll, getting picked sixth. And honestly, with the way our conference is going, I think anything can happen."

The Tigers will have senior setter Veronica Zimmerman back quarterbacking the offense. Zimmerman heads in to her final season of collegiate volleyball fourth on the school's all-time assist list with 3,225 assists. One of the top assist per set players in the American Athletic Conference last year, the senior will have some experience back on the outside while she tries to get in sync with two new middle hitters.

"We have some experience back. All of our pin attackers are returners, and that's huge. It's definitely going to help in consistency," Jauregui said. "We've had other players who have been on the team, but are learning some new roles, but it's not like we they haven't been on the floor in the college game before."

Some of those returnees who are looking to elevate their roles this year are juniors McKenzie Hayes and Michaella Moss and senior libero Lindsey Purvis. Hayes could see time working on the right side after she stepped in to the starting lineup late last season, while Moss saw regular time last year in the Tigers' serve-receive game. Purvis will work with sophomore Kendall Seering and freshman Mady Ruhlman to step in as the Tigers' primary passers with the graduation of the school's all-time career digs leader, Aleksandra Petronijevic.

The Tigers opened camp just two weeks ago and will be stepping on the floor against opponents they do not share a long history with. This is just the second-ever meeting with both High Point and Wofford for Memphis and is the first meeting against Georgia since 1994. The lack of past scouting reports heading in to the first week of the season is a challenge Memphis will have to answer in-game in Athens this weekend.

"Neither team know a lot about each other (in the early season tournaments) other than stats from last year," Jauregui said. "So it comes down to whoever is most confident and comfortable with themselves and gets out to a fast start. We know it's still about our side. It's tough to go in to early season and make a ton of adjustments because we don't have practice time. These preseason tournaments don't' really allow you to focus in on one opponent and game plan for them. So it's little things, and working on some lineup shifts and making adjustments there."

Live stats for all three matches will be available on Georgia's website at www.GeorgiaDogs.com. Memphis' Saturday night match against Georgia will be carried on the SEC Network Plus HERE.