Volleyball Posts Win Over Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Saturday, August 25

Memphis, Tenn.

12:30 pm

University of Memphis

1-1

Arkansas-Pine Bluff

0-2

Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Memphis

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Aug 25, 2018 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Boxscore (UM 3, UAPB 0)

Bivins leads the Tigers with nine kills, 14 digs.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – University of Memphis senior Kelsea Bivins nearly posted a double-double with nine kills and 14 digs to lift the Tigers to a 3-0 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff Saturday. The Tigers won the match by scores of 25-17, 25-12 and 25-7.

The win was the first of the season for Memphis (1-1). It also was the Tigers' first victory under first-year head coach Sean Burdette.

The match was the second of four on the day in the 2018 Memphis Invitational. The action continues later this afternoon with Stephen F. Austin and Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 4:30 p.m. (CT). Memphis returns to the court against Arkansas State at 7 p.m. (CT) to close out the weekend's action.

Tigers Tidbits

Three Tigers made their season debuts vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The three players seeing their first action of the season Saturday were Bre Carlton, Martina Faietti and Adjuwa Osborne.
Kelsea Bivins had 14 digs and nine kills. It was the sixth match of her career with double-digit kills.
Molly Murrihy had over 30 assists for the second straight match. She logged a match-best 35 assists Saturday.
Kelsea Bivins (.571), Kelsey Walter (.667) and Sarah Marlatt (.545) all hit over .500 vs. the Lions. The trio combined for 23 kills on 34 attempts with only three errors.
Hannah Flowers tied a career-high with four service aces vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff Saturday. She also had four aces vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff last season and against Stephen F. Austin Friday.

Head coach Sean Burdette comments
"It was great to get in the win column. We came out with good focus, good intensity. We wanted to force tempo and play at our speed, and we did that. The other good thing we were able to do is get some people in and see some different looks, different lineups.

"Kelsea (Bivins) did a fantastic job on the front and back rows. For her to come in today and hit over .500 is a credit to her hard work every day in practice."

Statistic	Memphis Leader	Arkansas-Pine Bluff Leader
Kills	Kelsea Bivins, 9	Kendalle Howard, 6
Assists	Molly Murrihy, 35	Britney Sahlmann, 15
Digs	Kelsea Bivins, 14	Britney Sahlmann, 11
Blocks	Hannah Flowers, 3	Chardis Adefolarin, 3

Set One

The play was close through the set's first 19 points, with Memphis holding a narrow 10-9 lead.
Kelsey Walter led the Tigers' charge with three kills in that stretch.
Memphis then went on an 8-3 run to pull out to an 18-12 advantage.
Sarah Marlatt and Kelsea Bivins each had two kills in the spurt.
The Tigers maintained their advantage on the way to the 25-17 first-set victory.

Set Two

Memphis jumped out to a quick 11-3 lead and never let up in the set.
Four of the Tigers' first 11 points came on service aces (Hannah Flowers, 2; Anna Palmer, 2)
Flowers also had three kills in the set-opening run.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff pulled to within seven at 13-6, but got no closer the rest of the way.
Memphis answered with an 8-3 spurt to push out to a 21-9 advantage.
Walter had two kills in the run.
The Tigers took the set by a 25-12 score.

Set Three

The Tigers put the set away early with an 8-1 run.
Bivins had two kills in the set-opening spurt.
From there, Memphis continued to increase its lead on the way to the 25-7 final.
Bivins added three more kills, and Flowers had a kill and two service aces to close the match for the Tigers.