Volleyball Preview: SMU, USF

Friday, November 1

Memphis, Tenn.

7 pm CT

University of Memphis

SMU*

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Oct 31, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Tigers heading down stretch of regular season with postseason hopes on the line.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – It's stretch time in American Athletic Conference volleyball action, as in "down-the-stretch" with the calendar turning to November.

Memphis opens the final month of regular-season play with a home weekend of league action. The Tigers host SMU Friday and USF Sunday.

And, the Tigers still have a lot to play for with a conference tournament bid and a postseason berth on the line. Memphis remains in the running for one of the six spots for the American Athletic Conference Tournament Nov. 22-24 in Orlando, Fla. The Tigers also are still in the hunt for a postseason invitation, possibly from the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) which begins in December.

Memphis' American Athletic Conference Home Weekend

Date/Day	Opponent	Time (CT)
Nov. 1/Friday	SMU	7 p.m.
Nov. 3/Sunday	USF	1 p.m.

Memphis/Opponents Breakdown

	Memphis	SMU	USF
2019 Record	14-8, 3-7 The American	14-6, 7-3 The American	7-17, 1-9 The American
Series		SMU leads 17-6	USF leads 21-10
Last Meeting		SMU won 3-1 (in Dallas, 2019)	USF won 3-0 (in Memphis, 2018)
Kills Leader	Hannah Flowers, 282	Hannah Jacobs, 252	Lindsey Pliapol, 272
Assists Leader	Sabrina Bianco, 868	Lily Heim, 833	Lauren LaBeck, 576
Digs Leader	Kaitlyn Gehler, 323	Montana Watts, 324	CC Clausen, 374
Blocks Leader	Andrea O'Connor, 55	Meryn Kennedy, 61	Ally Barnhart, 76
Aces Leader	Hannah Flowers, 39	Makayla Miller, 19	Lauren LaBeck, 22

Head coach Sean Burdette comments
(On last weekend)
"It was good to get one because it's tough on the road. First and foremost, (last weekend) was a long trip. It's probably the toughest one we have in the league. At Cincinnati, we competed, but certainly could have played better. We had a long travel day on Saturday and didn't have a chance to practice at East Carolina. We turned around for an early noon match on Sunday and was in a dog fight. They came out swinging, but we got back in it. It was a battle back-and-forth in sets four and five."

(On team's confidence coming back)
"It's easier to see when you win. As we've talked about, playing to get into the conference tournament and postseason play are still out there and within reach. The West Division of the conference is a dog fight, and there are no guarantees for any spots."

(On momentum heading into this weekend)
"It's exciting times. We're going to be home Friday with SMU, with a little tie-in with football. We want to take care of business Friday, so we can experience some of GameDay and support football on Saturday. Then, we have to get back after it against South Florida Sunday."

(On something to play for down the stretch)
"In years past with no conference tournament, you could be done and nothing to play for really early in the season. We're still talking about conference tournament and postseason play. We talked about it before the East Carolina match. We wanted to get the team to understand what's still out there."

Tigers Tidbits

Three Tigers – Sabrina Bianco, Jada Birkel and Adjuwa Osborne – welcome the first of two visits from schools from their home state of Texas in November Friday. Bianco and Birkel both are from Austin, Texas, which is about a three-hour drive south of Dallas. Later this month, the Tigers host Houston. Osborne is from Deer Park, Texas, which is a suburb of Houston.
Memphis and SMU have played some barn burners of late. Both matches last season went the distance with each team winning 3-2 on its homecourt. Earlier this season, the Mustangs posted a hard-fought 3-1 win over the Tigers in Dallas.
Speaking of five-set matches in 2019, Memphis and SMU both have played their fair share. The Tigers have played six five-set matches and are 3-3 in those encounters. The Mustangs have played five "going-the-distance" matches and are 2-3.
And there's more on five-setters from the Memphis side. The Tigers are 8-6 in five-set matches the last two seasons under head coach Sean Burdette. Memphis has won its last two five-setters with victories over Connecticut Oct. 18 and ECU Oct. 27.
Memphis is looking to end USF's three-match win streak in the series. The Tigers' last win over the Bulls came in November 2016. Memphis won by – you guessed it – a 3-2 score.
The Memphis-SMU match features a battle between two of the league's top hitters and setters. The Tigers' Hannah Flowers is third in The American in hitting percentage (.337), and the Mustangs' Meryn Kennedy is fourth (.331). Among the conference's top setters, SMU's Lily Heim is second (833 total assists/11.57 aps) and Memphis' Sabrina Bianco is third (868 total assists//10.21 aps).
This weekend's action features three of the conference's top liberos/defensive specialists. SMU's Montana Watts is fourth in the league in digs (324 total/4.63 dps), followed by USF's CC Clausen (374 total/4.11 dps) in seventh and Memphis' Kaitlyh Gehler (323 total/3.94 dps).