Volleyball Falls To UT Martin Friday

Friday, August 31

Martin, Tenn.

5 pm

University of Memphis

2-4

UT Martin

3-2

Memphis

UT Martin

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Aug 31, 2018 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Boxscore (UTM 3, UM 2)Memphis Season Statistics

Bivins, Gehler, Walter all with career highs.

MARTIN, Tenn. – University of Memphis' Kelsea Bivins, Kaitlyn Gehler and Kelsey Walter each had career highs in the Tigers' second match of the day in the UT Martin's Skyhawk Invitational, but it wasn't enough in a 3-2 setback to the host school.

UT Martin won the match by scores of 25-21, 22-25, 19-25, 25-15 and 15-12. With the loss, Memphis drops to 2-4. The Skyhawks improve to 3-2.

Bivins knocked down a career-best 21 kills, and Gehler collected a career-high 27 digs. Walter registered the first double-digit kills performance of her career with 10 knockdowns.

Memphis continues play in the Skyhawk Invitational Saturday with two matches. The Tigers face Central Arkansas at 11 a.m. (CT) and UAB at 5 p.m. (CT).

Tigers Tidbits

The five-set match had 37 ties and 16 lead changes.
Kelsea Bivins set a career high with 21 kills. Her previous best was 16 kills vs. Louisiana Tech last season.
Kaitlyn Gehler's 27 digs marked her fifth-straight, double-digit digs match of the season.
Bre Carlton logged 11 assists for her second match with double-figures assists this season.
Hannah Flowers had her second double-double (10 kills/10 digs) in as many matches on the day. The double-double also was the second of her career.
Hannah Flowers' 26 kills in Friday's two matches (16 vs. Florida A&M/10 vs. UT Martin) pushed her over 300 for her career. Flowers has 322 career kills.
Kelsey Walter's career-best 10 kills surpassed her previous high of nine which she had in five matches.

Head coach Sean Burdette comments
"This was a good fight to the end tonight after a quick turnaround from our earlier match. If you look at it statistically, we won a lot of the battles. UT Martin did a good job of winning a few key points. Kaitlyn came up big with 27 digs and assisted on numerous kills. Kelsea stepped up once again with kills and carried a great hitting percentage."

Statistic	Memphis Leaders	UT Martin Leaders
Kills	Kelsea Bivins, 21	Hannah Phillips, 14
Assists	Molly Murrihy, 35	Kenzie Hinshaw, 51
Digs	Kaitlyn Gehler, 27	Brooke Gyori, 29
Blocks	Sarah Marlatt/Kelsey Walter, 4	Justine Walker, 3

Set One

The set opened with four ties in the first 14 points.
The Tigers made the first run of the match, putting together a 9-4 stretch to grab a 16-11 advantage.
Memphis scored seven of its nine points off kills in the run. Anna Palmer had three of those seven kills.
The Skyhawks, though, stormed back with an 8-2 run to re-take the lead at 19-18.
After a Molly Murrihy kill tied the set at 19-all, UT Martin closed with a 6-2 surge to win 25-21.

Set Two

The teams matched each other nearly point-for-point in the opening 26 points with 11 ties. The last tie in that stretch came at 13-all.
Memphis pushed out to a slim 18-15 advantage with a 5-2 spurt. Hannah Flowers, Palmer and Sarah Marlatt each knocked down a kill in the run.
UT Martin came back to knot the set at 18-all, but Memphis had an answer.
The Tigers scored the next three points for a 21-18 lead and never trailed the rest of the way.
Kelsea Bivins scored three of the Tigers' final four points – all off kills – to give Memphis the 25-22 set win.

Set Three

The home team looked as if it was going to cruise in the third set for a 2-1 match lead.
UT Martin rushed out to an 11-6 lead and still maintained a comfortable advantage at 13-8.
Memphis, however, changed the complexion of the set with a 12-3 surge for a 20-16 lead.
Four Bivins kills and two Walter knockdowns keyed the Tigers' run.
Memphis closed out the set with kills from Bivins and Bre Carlton to give the Tigers a 2-1 match lead.

Set Four

UT Martin trailed only twice early (4-3 and 5-4) before taking control of the set.
After the set was tied at 6-all, the Skyhawks went on an 11-3 run for a commanding 17-9 lead.
Memphis got no closer than eight points the remainder of the set, which UT Martin won 25-15.

Set Five

The set went back-and-forth in the set's first 14 points with six ties.
Memphis gained a mini-advantage off kills from Walter and Bivins for a 10-8 lead.
UT Martin answered with four-straight points for a 12-10 advantage.
The Tigers closed to within one at 12-11, but the Skyhawks wrapped up the set and match with the last three scores.