Volleyball Preview: Connecticut, Temple

Friday, October 18

Memphis, Tenn.

7 pm CT

University of Memphis

Connecticut* (Alumni Weekend)

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Oct 17, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Tigers welcome former players back to campus for Alumni Weekend.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The University of Memphis volleyball team returns to the Elma Roane Fieldhouse for another American Athletic Conference home weekend. The Tigers host Connecticut Friday and Temple Sunday.

At both matches, fans are going to see some familiar faces with Memphis volleyball welcoming back former players for Alumni Weekend. It's the first time under second-year head coach Sean Burdette that Memphis has hosted a special weekend for former players to return to campus, and the current Tigers can show off their new practice facility, the Larry O. Finch Center, to the former standouts. Prior to 2018, Memphis both practiced and played at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse.
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Although Friday's match is between two schools (Memphis, Connecticut) that wear the color blue, there will be some green in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. The Tigers volleyball team – along with other Memphis squads and fellow American Athletic Conference schools – are joining forces for Mental Health Awareness in the month of October, and green is the color of mental health awareness nationally.

The conference is leading the charge to bring attention to this initiative with its Pow6rful Minds campaign. October is being used to improve awareness of mental health issues and resources available to student-athletes with the goal of ending the stigma related to seeking help and promoting success through a healthy, powerful mind.

Memphis' American Athletic Conference Home Weekend

Date/Day	Opponent	Time (CT)
Oct. 18/Friday	Connecticut (Alumni Weekend/ Powerful Minds Match)	7 p.m.
Oct. 20/Sunday	Temple (Alumni Weekend)	1 p.m.

Memphis/Opponents Breakdown

	Memphis	Connecticut	Temple
2019 Record	11-7, 0-6 The American	8-10, 2-4 The American	10-7, 1-5 The American
Series		UConn leads 7-6	Temple leads 10-2
Last Meeting		UConn won 3-2 (in Memphis, 2018)	Temple won 3-0 (in Memphis, 2018)
Kills Leader	Hannah Flowers, 217	Caylee Parker, 211	Katerina Papazoglou, 156
Assists Leader	Sabrina Bianco, 702	Courtney Morris, 523	Tyler Lindgren, 533
Digs Leader	Kaitlyn Gehler, 259	Caylee Parker, 159	Averi Salvador, 285
Blocks Leader	Sabria Cooper, 49	Genna Florig, 63	Kayla Spells, 52
Aces Leader	Hannah Flowers, 37	Courtney Morris, 12 Ase Baker-Falealili, 12	Gem Grimshaw, 16

Head coach Sean Burdette comments
(On Connecticut, Temple this weekend)
"We have two tough tasks this weekend. Connecticut is a team that can come at you from a lot of different angles. They have some explosive players, and they're very good at a lot of positions. We've got to be good from the service line, good in receive. More than anything, we need to work on that dig-to-transition kill and find ways to score points.

"Temple has a lot of different players that can give you fits at any time. It's not just the same one or two players. They've called upon different players. We have to watch everybody. They have some length, some physicality to them."

(On Alumni Weekend)
"It's about our players learning about the past and also for the past players to come and see where the program is going. They get to see our move to the Finch Center and see where we're headed."

(On bringing recognition to the Powerful Minds initiative)
"It's something that everybody is dealing with these days, and we want to recognize that with our Powerful Minds match Friday. There are so many signs we can pay attention to – not only student-athletes, but people in general on a daily basis. It affects everyone, not just student-athletes. Services that are out there to help are so much more abundant today than when I was in school competing. It's a great program, a great avenue to have available."

Tigers Tidbits

Memphis and Temple are meeting for the 13^th time, and all 13 encounters – including this Sunday – have come as American Athletic Conference foes. As for Connecticut, Friday's match is Memphis' 14^th time it has faced the Huskies. Twelve of the previous 13 match-ups were as league opponents. The Tigers and Huskies also had one non-conference match as part of the 1991 Connecticut Challenge in Storrs.
This is the final regular-season encounter between Memphis and Connecticut as conference foes. The Huskies are departing the American Athletic Conference and moving to the Big East Conference in the summer of 2020. There is no return trip to Storrs, Conn., for the Tigers later this season, so the only time the two could meet again would be in the league's postseason tournament in late November.
Memphis and Connecticut played two barn burners last season. However, each team posted a 3-2 win on the other's homecourt.
One Tiger is playing against her home state school Friday when Memphis hosts Connecticut. Sophomore transfer Andrea O'Connor is from Stamford, Conn., which is about a two-hour drive south of the Storrs campus.
The states of Illinois and Texas are going to be well represented in Friday's Memphis-Connecticut match. Six total players – three on each team – are from Illinois. The three Tigers that call Illinois home are Gigi Crescenzo, Anna Hayes and Molly Murrihy. There also are six players from the state of Texas on the two rosters. The three Memphis players from the Lone Star State are Sabrina Bianco, Jada Birkel and Adjuwa Osborne.
Memphis enters this weekend's matches with players ranked in the top-10 among the American Athletic Conference statistical leaders. They are: Hannah Flowers fourth in hitting percentage and first in service aces; Sabrina Bianco third in assists; and Kaitlyn Gehler eighth in digs.