Tigers Volleyball Drops Decision At Connecticut Sunday

Sunday, October 30

Storrs, Conn.

11 am

University of Memphis

11-13, 3-9American

Connecticut

14-9, 5-7American

Memphis

Connecticut

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Tigers Volleyball Drops Decision At Connecticut Sunday

Oct 30, 2016 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Memphis-Connecticut Boxscore Memphis Season Stats

Bierria, Hayes lead Memphis with nine kills apiece.

STORRS, Conn. – University of Memphis' Tai Bierria and McKenzie Hayes each posted nine kills, but its wasn't enough as Connecticut took a 3-0 American Athletic Conference volleyball victory Sunday. The Huskies won the match by scores of 25-19, 27-25 and 25-23.

The setback dropped the Tigers to 11-13 overall and 3-9 in the conference. Connecticut improved to 14-9 overall and 5-7 in the league.

Memphis played Sunday coming off a marathon five-set match at Temple Friday. The Owls won that match 3-2, but not before the Tigers pushed them the distance and then some. Temple won Friday's match by taking the deciding set 20-18. The Memphis-Temple match had 23 ties and 14 lead changes.

In Sunday's entire match, there were only 11 ties and three lead changes.

"Our performance was very disappointing today, especially with how we have been playing so well lately," said Tigers head coach April Jauregui. "We did not execute our game plan, and we made things harder by having to play from behind in the first and third sets. We had the door open in the second set to even the match, but UConn made a good push and executed at the end."

Hayes and Bierria led Memphis with nine kills apiece. Bierria nearly had her second-straight double-double with eight digs, while Hayes posted four blocks. Senior Catlin Lilly added seven kills and 11 digs.

Juniors Regan Comperry (14 assists) and Faith Myers (14) spilt time at setter, and both had near double-doubles. Comperry finished the match with nine digs and Myers had eight. Mady Ruhlman led the Tigers with 13 digs, and Brianna Kadiku had four blocks.

After dropping the first set, the Tigers attempted to bounce back in the second and jumped out to a 10-6 advantage. Hayes had two kills in the early run. Memphis held the lead and built on it, pushing the advantage to seven points at 18-11. Three Bierria kills and one Hayes kill ignited the Tigers' surge.

But, the home team made a comeback. The Huskies put together an 8-2 spurt to cut the Memphis lead to 20-19. A Huskies' attack error and a Michaella Moss kill extended the Tigers' lead back to three at 22-19. Connecticut, though, answered with a 5-2 run to knot the set at 24-all. After a Huskies' kill gave them a 25-24 lead, a Lilly kill tied the match at 25-all. Connecticut then scored the final two points for the 27-25 set win and a 2-0 match advantage.

In the third set, the Huskies ran out to a huge early lead at 11-1, but the Tigers did not fold. Memphis first closed the gap to seven at 16-9, and moments later, sliced the Huskies' lead to two at 21-19 on a Bierria kill. Connecticut pushed back to a four-point lead at 24-20, only to see the Tigers close to within one at 24-23 on consecutive kills from Bierria, Hayes and Kelsey Walter. A Tigers' attack error ended the third set with the Huskies winning 25-23.

The opening set saw Connecticut take the early lead and maintain it through most of the set. The Huskies went out to a 14-10 advantage, but a Tigers' 4-0 run tied the set at 14-all. Connecticut responded with a 5-0 spurt for a lead (19-14) it did not lose on the way to a 25-19 opening-set win.

Memphis returns home next weekend for two matches at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. The Tigers host USF Friday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. (CT) and UCF Sunday, Nov. 6 at 1 p.m. (CT).