Volleyball Posts Win Over Houston

Friday, October 12

Memphis, Tenn.

7 pm

University of Memphis

8-10, 1-5

Houston*

13-8, 0-6

Houston

Memphis

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Oct 12, 2018 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Boxscore (UM 3, UH 1)Memphis Season Statistics (Overall)Memphis Season Statistics (Conference Only)

Flowers, Murrihy lead the way in the victory.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – University of Memphis' Hannah Flowers and Molly Murrihy each recorded double-doubles in helping lift the Tigers to a 3-1 American Athletic Conference victory over Houston at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse Friday.

Memphis won the match by scores of 25-18, 16-25, 25-17 and 25-22. The victory improves the Tigers to 8-10 overall and 1-5 in The American. Houston falls to 13-8 and 0-6 in the conference.

Flowers logged her fifth career double-double with 18 kills and a career-best 13 digs. Murrihy's double-double of 36 assists and 12 digs was her sixth of the season.

Up Next
Memphis wraps up its five-match conference homestand Sunday against SMU at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. Match time is 1 p.m. (CT), and admission is free.

Head coach Sean Burdette comments
"We came out with good defensive intensity and a defensive mindset, and we got into a groove with our serve-receive. Those two components of ball control allowed us to do some things we talked about in our game plan.

"Hannah's consistent right now. Good hitters, good players produce at tough times. Tonight, she had some big swings at tough moments, as did some of our other hitters. Molly (Murrihy) made sold bold choices and utilized a lot of players.

"Mady was back tonight, and she steadies the ball control in serve-receive and on defense. She was a rock on our serve-receive."

Tigers Tidbits

Hannah Flowers posted her 15^thdouble-digit kills match of the season with her match-high 18 kills Friday. It was the 27^thdouble-figures kills match of her career.
Flowers led Memphis in kills for the 11^thtime this season.
Four players – Kaitlyn Gehler (18), Hannah Flowers (13), Molly Murrihy (12) and Kelsea Bivins (10) – posted double-digit digs Friday. The last time Memphis had four or more players with double-figures digs in a match was Sept. 11 in the 3-2 win at Ole Miss. In that match, Mady Ruhlman (18), Murrihy (13), Anna Palmer (10) and Kelsea Bivins (10) all had 10 or more digs.
Kelsey Walter had five total blocks vs. Houston. It was her ninth match this season with five or more total blocks.
Molly Murrihy had 36 assists Friday for her 11^thmatch of the season with 30 or more assists.
Kaitlyn Gehler collected 18 digs Friday for her eighth match of the season with 15 or more digs.
Mady Ruhlman, the Tigers' defensive specialist, returned to action after missing the previous three matches due to injury. She had five digs.
Anna Palmer also returned to the court Friday and had five kills and eight digs. Palmer missed the Oct. 5 Tulane match with an illness.

Statistic	Memphis Leaders	Houston Leaders
Kills	Hannah Flowers, 18	Silvia Pertens, 11
Assists	Molly Murrihy, 36	Abby Irvine, 31
Digs	Kaitlyn Gehler, 18	Katie Karbo, 21
Blocks	Kelsey Walter, 5	Kendall Haywood, 7
Aces	Kelsea Bivins, 1 Kaitlyn Gehler, 1	3 players, 1

Set One

Houston grabbed the early 2-0 lead, but Memphis stormed back with six-straight points for a 6-2 advantage.
Hannah Flowers led the spurt with two kills, and Kelsea Bivins added an ace.
The Tigers only led 8-7 after a Cougars' service ace, but steadily pulled away the remainder of the set.
A Flowers kill started a 14-5 run that put the Tigers in front 22-12.
Molly Murrihy and Meredith Wallace each had two kills in that stretch.
Memphis held on for the 25-18 win.

Set Two

Houston and Memphis played back-and-forth in the first half of the set.
The first 18 points had eight ties.
The Cougars used a 6-3 run to push out to a 15-12 lead.
Memphis closed to within two at 16-14 on a Sarah Marlatt kill.
Houston then went on a 7-1 run to take a 23-15 advantage.
The Cougars won the set 25-16.

Set Three

Like the second set, the third was tight early with four ties in the first 16 points.
Memphis then used a 5-1 run to gain a 13-9 advantage.
Kills from Flowers and Bivins keyed the run.
Houston responded with a 5-2 spurt to pull to within one at 15-14.
After an exchange of points gave Memphis a 19-17 lead, the Tigers closed the set on a 6-0 run for the win.
Kills from Murrihy, Flowers and Bivins ignited the run.

Set Four

Houston jumped out to a 4-1 lead and held the advantage up to 11-9.
The Tigers used a Kelsey Walter kill and two Houston hitting errors to grab a 14-13 lead.
Three more Cougars attack errors and one service error allowed Memphis to build a 20-16 lead.
Houston, though, came back and cut the Tigers' lead to one at 22-21 on a Memphis hitting error and a kill.
Memphis regained its composure, and after kills from Anna Palmer and Flowers, the Tigers held match point on their serve at 24-21.
Houston saved one match point and cut the lead to 24-22.
Marlatt, however, answered with a kill on the next rally for the 25-22 set win and 3-1 match victory.