Tigers Volleyball Defeats USF 3-2 Friday

Friday, November 4

Memphis, Tenn.

7 pm

University of Memphis

12-13,4-9

USF

16-10,7-7

USF

Memphis

Photo by: Matthew Smith

Nov 04, 2016 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Memphis-USF Boxscore Memphis Season Stats

Moss' career match propels Memphis to fourth-straight home win.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The 2016 University of Memphis volleyball squad knows how to go the distance.

For the third time in their last four matches, the Tigers played five sets, and for the second time, they pulled out the victory. On Friday, Memphis defeated USF 3-2 by scores of 21-25, 25-23, 25-23, 24-26 and 15-8.

The win improved the Tigers' overall record to 12-13 and their league mark to 4-9. Memphis has won four of its last six matches. USF fell to 16-10 overall and 7-7 in conference play.

Memphis looks to continue its home win streak Sunday, Nov. 6 when it hosts UCF in a 1 p.m. (CT) match at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse.

"I've been pleased with how we've been playing recently," said head coach April Jauregui. "We played well last week despite the setbacks, and this was a nice bounce-back. We had a great atmosphere here on our homecourt with the fans and pep band. I'm happy that we were able to get the win."

Senior Michaella Moss gave Memphis the boost it needed with a career performance. She had career bests in kills (18) and attack percentage (.485) and added 15 digs. The double-double was the first of her career.

Fellow senior teammate Catlin Lilly recorded her sixth double-double in the last seven matches with 16 kills and 10 digs. Lilly now has 998 career digs and needs only two to reach 1,000. When she achieves that milestone, Lilly will become one of only 11 players in program history to have 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career. She reached the 1,000-kills mark in the second match of the season versus Central Arkansas Aug. 26.

"We were flat early and weren't executing our offense," Jauregui said. "We made some lineup adjustments, and they really paid off. Mickey (Michaella) had a career night, and that's what you expect a senior to do. I was very proud of her performance tonight."

McKenzie Hayes added 10 kills, and sophomore Kelsey Walter had seven kills, including two key scores in the final set. Junior Regan Comperry led Memphis with 33 assists to go with 11 digs for seventh double-double of the season. Mady Ruhlman collected a match-best 23 digs.

"Kelsey's been playing on the right which is a different role for her," said Jauregui. "She came in the fifth set and had some monster swings for us. She plays fearless. We wanted to get her the ball because I knew she'd be aggressive and try to score. Kelsey made a couple of big plays in that last set, and the rest of the team also stepped up for us to get the win."

The Tigers looked to close the match in the fourth set, and after the score was tied at 9-all, raced out to a 17-11 advantage. Three Hayes kills and two Moss kills aided the Memphis run. The Bulls, though, fought back with a 9-3 spurt to tie the set at 20-all. From there, USF was either in the lead or tied. The Bulls finished the set with two-straight scores for the 26-24 win, pushing the match to a fifth set.

In that fifth set, Memphis roared out to an 11-4 lead and never looked back. A Walter down-the-line kill gave the Tigers some breathing room at 6-4, and moments later, a second Walter kill in similar fashion increased the lead to 10-4.

After USF closed to 13-8, kills from Hayes and Summer Morgan clinched the set at 15-8 and the match 3-2.

Memphis dropped the opening set, but the Tigers bounced back. The 25-23 second set victory was anything but easy as there were 12 ties and six lead changes.

Eight of the 12 ties came in the set's first 22 points, and the teams were knotted at 11-all. At that point, Memphis pushed in front and grabbed the largest lead of the set at 17-14. Kills from Brianna Kadiku and Moss helped the Tigers gain the upper hand. USF, however, battled back to tie the set at 18-all, and then another Memphis spurt pushed the home team out to a 23-20 advantage. Three Moss kills ignited the run.

The Bulls battled back again to tie the set at 23-all, but Lilly put down back-to-back kills for the 25-23 victory.

After intermission, Memphis led nearly throughout the third set on its way to taking a 2-1 match lead with another 25-23 set victory. A slow start helped USF gain an early 6-4 lead in the third set, but the Tigers responded. Memphis put together a 10-5 run to take a 14-11 advantage. Four Moss kills powered the spurt.

Memphis remained in front until a 3-0 mini-run from USF tied the score at 20-all. The score was tied at 21, 22 and 23-all, and the Tigers closed the set with two-straight points – the clincher on a Walter kill – for the 25-23 win.

The Tigers battled in the first set, but was unable to hold a lead for long. Memphis had only one advantage in the set at 5-4 early. The Bulls pushed out to a 9-6 lead and maintained that cushion the remainder of set. The Tigers closed to within two points four times down the stretch, but did not get closer.