Tigers Volleyball Falls To Belmont In Bruiser Showcase Title Match

Saturday, September 5

Nashville, Tenn.

2:00 PM

University of Memphis

4-2

Belmont

2-4

Memphis

Belmont

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Tigers Volleyball Falls To Belmont In Bruiser Showcase Title Match

Sep 05, 2015 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Lilly, Morgan both named to All-Tournament Team.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – University of Memphis junior outside hitter Catlin Lilly had a match-high tying 20 kills and junior middle blocker Summer Morgan posted a match-best nine blocks, but it wasn't enough as the Tigers dropped a 3-2 decision to host Belmont in the Bruiser Showcase title encounter Saturday.

The Bruins won the championship match by scores of 25-23, 15-25, 15-25, 26-24 and 15-12. Lilly and Morgan both were named to the Bruiser Showcase All-Tournament Team. With the loss, the Tigers fall to 4-2. Belmont improved its mark to 2-4.

For Memphis, it was the second-consecutive, second-place tournament result in as many weeks. Last weekend, Memphis placed second at the University of Georgia Benson Hospitality Invitational.

Lilly added eight digs and three blocks, while Morgan had 11 kills. Junior McKenzie Hayes recorded 10 kills and four blocks, and freshman Mady Ruhlman posted a team-best 17 digs. Redshirt senior Veronica Zimmerman had 43 assists.

"It was a match that, after looking at the stat sheet, is hard to comprehend the loss when we had such great things going our way," said head coach April Jauregui. "However, give credit to Belmont for not backing down. They continued to play aggressive and willed themselves to the win.

"Today was a lesson our team can learn from. We did some amazing things throughout the weekend. We probably had the best offensive performance today in quite some time. But, we had some tentative moments and played it 'safe' when the match got close. We'll play more matches like we did today later this season. If we can learn from it now, it will pay off for us down the road."

Taking a 2-1 lead into the fourth set, the Tigers led the back-and-forth affair 24-23. Belmont, though, responded with three-straight points to win the fourth set 26-24 and send the match to a deciding fifth set. The largest margin in the fourth set was a two-point advantage at 9-7 for Memphis.

Belmont's momentum carried over into the final set. The Bruins held a 9-8 lead and used a 3-1 spurt to extend their advantage to 12-9. The Tigers, however, fought back and sliced the Belmont lead to 13-12 on a Lilly kill. The Bruins captured the set's final two points for the championship victory.

After dropping a narrow 25-23 first-set decision, Memphis dominated the second and third sets by identical 25-15 scores. In the second set, the Tigers used an 8-0 run to close out the 25-15 win, and in the third set, Memphis jumped out an early 5-1 advantage and never looked back. In those two sets, Lilly combined for eight of her 20 kills, while Morgan posted four of her 11 kills.

After opening the 2015 campaign with consecutive road tournaments, the Tigers return home to the Elma Roane Fieldhouse Sept. 11-12 to host the Memphis Invitational. In addition to the host Tigers, the tournament field includes Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Auburn, Little Rock and Tennessee Tech.

The Tigers begin action in the Memphis Invitational Friday, Sept. 11 with a 2 p.m. (CT) match against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Memphis also meets Auburn later Friday at 7 p.m. (CT).