Volleyball Travels To Houston Friday

Friday, October 6

Houston, Texas

7 pm CT

University of Memphis

Houston

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Oct 05, 2017 | Women's Volleyball

Memphis Season Statistics (Overall/Conference)

Sunday's match at Tulane postponed due to Hurricane Nathan.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – If playing on the road for the fifth time out of the first seven weekends isn't enough, Mother Nature has added something to the mix.

The University of Memphis volleyball team was scheduled for an American Athletic Conference weekend road trip to Houston Friday and Tulane Sunday. But, weather has changed a portion of those plans.

With the impending arrival of Hurricane Nathan to the Gulf Coast Sunday, Memphis' match at Tulane has been postponed. The Tigers' Friday match at Houston is still scheduled to be played.

Memphis' American Athletic Conference Weekend

Date/Day	Opponent	Time (CT)
Oct. 6/Friday	at Houston	7 p.m.
Oct. 8/Sunday**	at Tulane**	1 p.m.**

**postponed

Memphis/Opponents Breakdown

	Memphis	Houston
2017 Record	7-9, 0-4 AAC	5-7, 1-3 AAC
Series		UH leads 26-15
Last Meeting/2016		Memphis 3-2 win (@Houston)
Kills Leader	Hannah Flowers, 162	Brianna Lynch, 124
Assists Leader	Faith Myers, 399	Abby Irvine, 280
Digs Leader	Alyssa Kronberg, 239	Katie Karbo, 254
Total Blocks Leader	Brianna Kadiku, 67	Brianna Gardner, 44

Head coach April Jauregui comments
"I told our team this week that we're only a few points away from being in the mix with four or five schools in our league. That's how competitive our conference is, and also how much parity our league has. We're not excited that we didn't pick up wins at home last weekend, but we battled back. We went five (sets) with two good teams.

"Our opening weekend (two weeks ago), there were some jitters. But, I also looked on the court, and we have four freshmen out there. The future is very bright."

(On changes/adjustments)
"Our players have responded well to the changes we've made. From a volleyball standpoint, we needed to make adjustments. Being a young team, we don't have the luxury of experience and having played a couple of seasons together. Where most teams are filling in one or two pieces, we're filling in four or five. I thought our production on the court was better last weekend, and now our focus is sustaining it. We have seen we can put together a couple of sets, but we need to learn to battle it out and find that energy for those matches that go five sets."

(On playing on the road most of the early schedule)
"Our conference schedule got adjusted with the addition of Wichita State this year, so it will balance back to a more 'home-heavy' one next season. But, all these road matches are getting us battle-tested, and that's not a bad thing. We have faced some adversity on the road, and some of younger players need to see that and learn what it takes to play night-in and night-out at this level."

Tigers Tidbits

Although Houston leads the overall series, Memphis has won the last five, including season sweeps in 2015 and 2016. The last time the Tigers dropped a match to the Cougars was in the 2014 campaign, a 3-1 setback on Sept. 28, 2014. Memphis' last two trips to Houston have been nail-biting affairs, with the Tigers taking 3-2 decisions in the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
Sunday's match at Tulane has been postponed as a result of Hurricane Nathan. It is the first time Memphis has had a match postponed or cancelled since 2005. That season, Hurricane Rita initially forced the postponement of matches versus Houston (in Houston) and Rice (in Memphis). Later, those matches were not rescheduled.
The American Athletic Conference schedule-maker has not been too kind to the Tigers since Memphis joined the league in 2013. This is the second-straight year and the third time in Memphis' five seasons in the league that the Tigers have played two of their first three conference weekends on the road (2014, 2016, 2017). In 2013, Memphis opened conference play with its first three matches on the road, and in 2015, the Tigers played three of their first four league encounters away from the Elma Roane Fieldhouse.
And here's more on the "road-heavy" early schedule for the Tigers. Before the Tulane cancellation, Memphis would have played 13 of its first 18 matches of the season on the road (now 13 of 17). The last time the Tigers played more road matches in its first 18 was in 2003. That season, Memphis played 15 of its first 18 away from the Bluff City.
For a third-straight match, Memphis is playing a conference foe that can rival it in number of newcomers. The Tigers have one of the youngest rosters in the league – and quite possibly the nation – with 10 newcomers (7 freshmen/2 transfers/1 redshirt freshman) on their roster. Houston has seven newcomers (4 freshmen/2 redshirt freshmen/1 transfer) on its roster. Last weekend, Memphis played UCF (7 newcomers) and USF (9 newcomers) on their respective rosters.
This week, three Tigers rank in the top-10 in three statistical categories in The American, and they are: Brianna Kadiku in blocks (8^th), Faith Myers in assists (9^th) and Alyssa Kronberg in digs (7^th).