Tigers Volleyball Wins Memphis Invitational

Saturday, September 16

Memphis, Tenn.

10 am CT

University of Memphis

7-5

UT Martin

6-7

UT Martin

Memphis

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Sep 16, 2017 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Memphis-UT Martin Boxscore Memphis Season Statistics

Myers' 44 assists lead to victory, named tournament MVP.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – University of Memphis senior Faith Myers logged 44 assists and earned tournament MVP honors, and Hannah Flowers and Natale Zanellato downed some key kills to lift the Tigers volleyball squad to a 3-1 victory over UT Martin Saturday.

The victory gave the Tigers the 2017 Memphis Invitational championship. Memphis improved its record to 7-5. The Skyhawks fell to 6-7.

The Tigers' 2017 in-season tournament schedule comes to a close, and Memphis turns the page to its conference slate next weekend. The Tigers open American Athletic Conference play on the road at Connecticut and Temple Sept. 22 and 24.

Head coach April Jauregui comments
"We made good growth, as a whole, this weekend. We're getting better at understanding gameplan and execution. We have a lot of young players on the court, so it's not as simple as go out there and play. UT Martin is always a fun match. They play with a lot of heart and energy. We didn't start the match very well, but I was pleased with how we responded."

Tigers Tidbits

Senior Faith Myers had 91 assists, 25 digs and four total blocks in earning Memphis Invitational MVP honors.
Myers had a season-high 44 assists in Saturday's win over UT Martin. The 44 assists performance was her best since she had 50 assists vs. ECU in the 2015 campaign (Sept. 27, 2015).
Myers' MVP honor marks the second time this season she earned tournament accolades. She was named to the Central Arkansas Invitational All-Tournament Team Sept. 2.
Natale Zanellato's 14-kills, four-digs performance Saturday earned her Memphis Invitational All-Tournament Team honors. She had double-figures kills in all three matches this weekend.
Zanellato's 14 kills Saturday was her fifth double-digits kills performance of the season.
Mady Ruhlman logged 10 digs for her third double-digits digs match of the season.
Kelsea Bivins recorded her third double-figures kills match of the tournament with 10 vs. UT Martin Saturday. It was her fifth-straight, double-figures kills performance of 2017.
Hannah Flowers, who downed the kill to clinch the title, finished with 15 kills in the match, one shy of her season high (16 vs. Eastern Illinois).
Brianna Kadiku had four total kills in Saturday's match. She wrapped up the weekend (three matches) with 16 total kills.

Memphis vs. UT Martin Stats Leaders

Statistic	Memphis	UT Martin
Kills	Hannah Flowers, 15 Natale Zanellato, 14	Hayley Gray, 11
Assists	Faith Myers, 44	Kenzie Hinshaw, 21
Digs	Alyssa Kronberg, 18 Faith Myers, 12	Brooke Gyori, 16 Kenzie Hinshaw, 12
Total Blocks	Brianna Kadiku, 4	Justine Walker, 5

How It Happened

Overall Match
- The win gave the Tigers the 2017 Memphis Invitational title.
- The match had 28 ties but only eight lead changes.
- Memphis won its first four-set match of the season Saturday.
- The Tigers won their first match when dropping the opening set in 2017.
Set One (UT Martin 25-23)
- All three ties in the set came in the first six points, but then UT Martin pulled away.
- After a 3-all tie, the Skyhawks went on a 10-3 run to pull out to a 13-6 advantage.
- UT Martin held a 17-10 lead when Memphis made a charge.
- The Tigers put together a 9-3 spurt to cut the UT Martin lead to 20-19.
- Kills from Natale Zanellato and Hannah Flowers brought Memphis back.
- The Skyhawks, though, held off the Tigers for the first set victory.
Set Two (Memphis 25-21)
- The script was flipped in the second set. The three ties occurred in the set's first six points, but then Memphis took the lead from there on.
- After the 3-all tie, the Tigers built a 16-11 advantage.
- Flowers and Zanellato combined for five kills in the run that pushed Memphis into the lead.
- Memphis maintained its cushion the rest of the way, as the Skyhawks got no closer than three points.
Set Three (Memphis 25-23)
- Memphis jumped out quickly 6-2 on kills from Zanellato and Brianna Kadiku.
- UT Martin responded and tied the set at 10-all.
- Over the next 20 points, the score was tied eight times with the last coming at 20-all.
- Two Kadiku kills ignited a 3-0 Memphis run to give the Tigers a 23-20 lead.
- UT Martin responded with its own 3-0 spurt to knot the score at 23-all, the 13^th tie of the set.
- Memphis closed the set with a Zanellato kill and a Kate Hoerdemann service ace for the win.
Set Four (Memphis 25-19)
- Memphis ran out to a 9-7 lead, and four different Tigers players knocked down kills in the run.
- UT Martin answered with a 6-2 spurt to take a 13-11 advantage.
- The teams tied the score six times over the next 12 points, with the last coming at 18-all.
- The Tigers took over from there, ending the set and match on a 7-1 run.
- Two Kiyla Glasper assisted blocks and kills from Flowers and Kelsea Bivins keyed the match-ending run.