Volleyball Drops Conference Home Opener

Friday, October 4

Memphis, Tenn.

7 pm CT

University of Memphis

11-4

Wichita State* (Girls' Day)

3-11

Wichita St.

Memphis

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Oct 04, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Flowers tied career-high blocks in the setback to Wichita State.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – University of Memphis' Hannah Flowers tied a career-high for blocks and Meredith Wallace had a double-double, but visiting Wichita State came away with a hard-fought 3-2 American Athletic Conference victory in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse Friday night.

The Shockers won the Tigers' league home opener by scores of 26-28, 25-17, 27-29, 25-19 and 15-12. The setback dropped Memphis to 11-4 overall and 0-3 in The American. Wichita State improved to 4-11 overall and 1-2 in the conference.

Flowers had six total blocks, tying her career-best she set twice last season versus Central Arkansas and SMU. Wallace posted her sixth double-double of the season and her career with 11 kills and 10 digs.

Up Next
The Tigers return to action Sunday, Oct. 6 at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. Memphis hosts Tulsa in the Tigers' Breast Cancer Awareness Match. The action starts at 1 p.m. (CT), and admission is free.

Tigers Tidbits

The Tigers made history Friday night, beginning conference play with three-consecutive five-set matches for the first time in program history. Memphis' first conference season was in 1984 (Metro). The previous closest time the Tigers came to opening conference play with three-straight five setters was in 2006. That season, Memphis' first four league matches were by 3-2, 3-1, 3-2 and 3-2 scores.
Jada Birkel had a career-best four total blocks Friday. She also added five kills.
Sabrina Bianco posted her eighth 40-plus assists match of the season (43 assists). It was the ninth of her career.
Hannah Flowers had her 10^th-straight double-digit kills match and her 11^thoverall of the season. It was her 46^thdouble-figures kills match of her career.
Caitlin Schultz came off the bench and had nine kills. The nine-kills performance was her best outing since she had 10 in a win over Eastern Illinois Aug. 31.

Statistic	Memphis Leaders	Wichita State Leaders
Kills	Hannah Flowers, 16	Emma Wright, 16
Assists	Sabrina Bianco, 43	McKayla Wuensch, 49
Digs	Kaitlyn Gehler, 15	Kara Bown, 23
Aces	Three players, 2	Arianna Arjomand, 3
Blocks	Hannah Flowers, 6	Two players, 7

First Set

The Tigers took a 4-1 lead early and held the advantage most of the way.
Memphis extended the lead to five at 10-5 on a Wichita State service error.
The Tigers added one more point to their lead at 13-7 on an Andrea O'Connor kill.
The Shockers stormed back with a 5-0 spurt to cut the lead to 13-12.
Memphis pushed out to a four-point lead at 17-13 on a Hannah Flowers kill.
Wichita State tied the set at 19-all and later grabbed its first lead of the set at 23-22 on a Memphis attack error.
The set went back-and-forth over the next seven points with four ties, the last at 26-all.
The Tigers took the set's last two points on a Sabria Cooper block and Gigi Crescenzo kill for the 28-26 win.

Second Set

The Shockers grabbed a 1-0 lead and never trailed.
Memphis tied the set at 1-all, 2-all and 3-all, but never took the lead.
The Tigers remained within striking distance at 14-12.
From that point, the Shockers closed the set on an 11-5 run for the 25-17 victory.

Third Set

Wichita State grabbed the early 4-1 lead.
Memphis cut the Shockers' lead to one point on four occasions, but did not get the equalizer. The last one-point deficit was at 9-8.
Wichita State pushed out to a 16-10 lead and looked as if it had control of the set.
The Shockers maintained their margin at 22-17 when Memphis made its comeback.
The Tigers used a 6-0 run – keyed by Sabrina Bianco's service game that included two aces – to take a 23-22 lead.
The set went back-and-forth with five ties over the next eight points, making the score 27-all.
The Tigers wrapped up the set with a Caitlin Schultz kill and Flowers ace for the 29-27 win.

Fourth Set

The Tigers grabbed leads of 1-0 and 2-1 off Jada Birkel kills, but the advantages were short-lived.
The Shockers used an 11-5 spurt to take a 12-7 lead and never trailed the rest of the set.
Memphis cut the Wichita State lead to 15-14 on a Crescenzo ace, but never tied the score.
Wichita State maintained its lead at 20-18 and then closed the set on a 5-1 run for the 25-19 final.

Fifth Set

The Shockers took the first lead of the set of 5-3 and held on the remainder of the match.
Wichita State pushed out to a 12-7 advantage after a Memphis attack error.
Memphis, though, responded with a 4-0 run to slice the Shockers' advantage to 12-11.
The Shockers answered with a 3-1 spurt to win the set 15-12 and the match 3-2.