Volleyball Falls In Season Opener

Friday, August 24

Memphis, Tenn.

7 pm

University of Memphis

0-1

Stephen F. Austin

1-0

Stephen F. Austin

Memphis

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Aug 24, 2018 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Memphis-SFA Boxscore

Hannah Flowers' 11 kills, Molly Murrihy's 33 assists lead the Tigers.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – University of Memphis sophomore Hannah Flowers had 11 kills and freshman Molly Murrihy added 33 assists, but it wasn't enough in the Tigers' 3-0 setback to Stephen F. Austin Friday. The Ladyjacks won the match by scores of 25-22, 25-20 and 25-23.

Memphis' 2018 season opener Friday also was the first match of the Sean Burdette era. Burdette took over as head coach in January.

The Tigers' match was part of the 2018 Memphis Invitational. In Friday's first match, Arkansas State posted a 3-0 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Action in the Memphis Invitational continues with four matches Saturday. The first match Saturday begins at 10 a.m. (CT) at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse.

Memphis played Stephen F. Austin, a 2017 postseason participant, down to the wire in all three sets. The Ladyjacks, though, fended off several Tigers' rallies to take the victory.

Tigers Tidbits

Four players made their Tigers' starting debuts Friday night. Freshmen Kaitlyn Gehler, Molly Murrihy and Meredith Wallace and sophomore transfer Anna Palmer all received starting nods in the season opener.
Murrihy nearly posted a double-double in her first collegiate match with 33 assists and nine digs. The 33 assists were a match-best.
Hannah Flowers logged the 13^thdouble-figures kills performance of her career Friday with 11.
Senior Kelsey Walter hit a team-high .350 with seven kills on 20 attempts and no errors. She also had three total blocks.
Flowers tied a career-high with four service aces vs. Stephen F. Austin Friday. She previously had four aces vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff last season.

Head coach Sean Burdette comments
"We battled hard tonight, and that was a big thing. We didn't give up. We have to clean up some communication errors that we had. We had a great crowd, great atmosphere. Tonight was a beginning for us. We certainly have work to do. We are pleased with how we started, but just not the end result.

"We needed to set Hannah more in that third set. She was hitting over .400 in the third set. She was our 'go-to' player, and we need to find a way to feed that player. When you have the guns, you really got to go to them, really keep going to the well. Our middles also stepped up today, and we were able to do a lot of things offensively."

Statistic	Memphis Leader	Stephen F. Austin Leader
Kills	Hannah Flowers, 11	Danae Daron, 9
Assists	Molly Murrihy, 33	Ann Hollas, 17
Digs	Kaitlyn Gehler, 9 Molly Murrihy, 9	Sabrina Monaco, 14
Blocks	Kelsey Walter, 3 Hannah Flowers, 3	Danae Daron, 5 Anyia Williams, 5

Set One

Memphis jumped out to an early 7-2 lead on the strength of two Hannah Flowers service aces and one kill.
Stephen F. Austin fought back and tied the set at 10-all, but the Tigers maintained the lead until 17-16 when the Ladyjacks took control.
The Ladyjacks put together a 5-1 run to take a 21-18 lead.
Memphis responded with two Kelsey Walter kills and another Flowers kill to close to within one at 23-22.
Stephen F. Austin, though, scored the set's final two points for the win.

Set Two

The Tigers fought hard throughout the set, but were unable to overcome an early deficit.
After a Kelsea Bivins' kill tied the set at 3-all, the Ladyjacks went on a 7-3 run to grab a 10-6 lead. It was a lead they did not relinquish.
Stephen F. Austin held its largest lead of the set at six on four occasions (13-7, 14-8, 16-10, 20-14).
The Tigers fought back from the last six-point deficit (20-14) to cut the Ladyjacks' lead to 21-19.
Bivins keyed the spurt with two kills, and Kate Hoerdemann added one kill.
Stephen F. Austin, however, closed the set on a 4-1 run to take a 2-0 advantage in the match.

Set Three

Hannah Flowers exploded in the set, posting seven of 11 kills in the frame.
The set was nip-and-tuck early with 12 ties in the first 26 points, and the last coming at 13-all.
Stephen F. Austin won the next three points to take a 16-13 advantage.
The Ladyjacks maintained their lead up to 20-17 when Memphis used a 4-0 run to take a 21-20 advantage.
Three-straight Flowers' kills knotted the set at 20-all, and a Kaitlyn Gehler service ace put the Tigers in the lead at 21-20.
Stephen F. Austin put together a 3-0 mini-run to regain the lead at 23-21.
From there, the Ladyjacks held on to win the set and match.