Volleyball Sweeps Season Opener, 3-0

Friday, August 28

Athens, Ga.

4:00 PM ET

University of Memphis

1-0

High Point

0-1

High Point

Memphis

McKenzie Hayes had a career-high 11 digs in the season opener, Friday.

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Aug 28, 2015 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Agomuo hits .522 in opener.

ATHENS, Ga. – Led by double digit kills from outside hitters Oluchi Agomuo and Catlin Lilly, the Memphis volleyball team (1-0) won its season opener over High Point (0-1), Friday, in the opening round of the Georgia Benson Hospitality Invitational. Agomuo led the team with 12 kills on 23 attacks with no errors for a .522 hitting percentage, while Lilly downed 11 kills on a team-high 39 swings.

Memphis got out to a quick start, a point of emphasis heading in to the tournament from the Tiger coaching staff, jumping ahead 2-0 early and stretching the lead to 20-18 in the opening set. But High Point came back to take a 21-20 lead before senior middle Torika Baleilekutu downed one of her five kills to tie the match at 21-all. Lilly then added a kill of her own, and Memphis closed out the opening set, 25-22.

"I'm glad we won. That first game is always a little nerve racking," Head Coach April Jauregui said. "We were pretty poised and distributed our offense well. We also got some subs into the match in some roles we talked about."

But the quick start button stayed on the same side of the floor when the teams switched sides for the second set, as High Point jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead in the second set.

"We were down in the second set," Jauregui said. "But the good thing is no one was panicking or stressed. We just got back on track and no one panicked or started doubting the system. We have some connections that are going to take time. With two new primary middles, it's going to take time for that connection to feel better."

Junior McKenzie Hayes led the defense with 11 digs, a career-high for her in the team's first match of the season.

"That's the first time she's played all six positions rotationally in college and she did a really good job," Jauregui said. "We needed someone to step up in that passing and defensive role and she did a nice job there. In all, it was a solid team win. We had great energy and support from the bench and that's what we wanted to see."

Oluchi also added 10 digs for the double-double while senior Veronica Zimmerman handed out 35 assists as the offense hit .262 in the opener.

Memphis will play a pair of non-conference matches, Saturday. The Tigers face Wofford at 9 a.m. (CT), then will come back to face host Georgia in the nightcap at 6 p.m. The Georgia match will be carried on the SEC Network Plus HERE. Live stats for both matches are HERE.