Volleyball Drops 3-2 Decision To SMU Friday

Friday, November 1

Memphis, Tenn.

7 pm CT

University of Memphis

14-9,3-8AAC

SMU*

14-7,7-4AAC

SMU

Memphis

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Nov 01, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Wallace, Birkel, Bianco all set career-highs in the setback.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – University of Memphis' Meredith Wallace, Jada Birkel and Sabrina Bianco all set career-highs Friday, but SMU came out with a narrow 3-2 win in American Athletic Conference action at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse.

The Mustangs won the match by scores of 19-25, 25-16, 27-25, 19-25 and 15-13. With the setback, the Tigers fell to 14-9 overall and 3-8 in the league. SMU improved to 15-6 overall and 8-3 in the conference.

Wallace and Birkel each set career-bests in kills with 22 and 12, respectively. Bianco's career-high came in digs as she posted 23.

Up Next
The Tigers continue their weekend conference homestand against the USF Bulls Sunday at 1 p.m. (CT). The match is at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse, and admission is free.

Tigers Tidbits

Meredith Wallace's 22 kills surpassed her previous-best of 19 she had twice earlier this season.
Meredith Wallace posted the seventh double-double of her career with 22 kills and 12 digs. It also was her seventh double-double of the season.
Jada Birkel's 12 kills surpassed her previous-best of nine she had versus Temple two weeks ago.
Sabrina Bianco had 53 assists Friday for her 14^th40-assists match of her career. Thirteen of the 14 performances have come this season.
Sabrina Bianco recorded her ninth double-double (53 assists-23 digs) of the season and the 15^thof her career.
Gigi Crescenzo collected a 15 digs versus SMU Friday. The double-figures digs match was her 10^thof the season.
Friday's match (17 digs) was the 35^thdouble-figures digs match of Gehler's career and her 17^thof the season. Gehler has posted double-digit digs in 15 of the Tigers' last 16 matches.
Freshman Mia Migliore collected 14 digs in Friday's match. It was her eighth double-digit digs performance of the season and her second in conference play.

Statistic	Memphis Leaders	SMU Leaders
Kills	Meredith Wallace, 22	Kaylyn Winkler, 19
Assists	Sabrina Bianco, 53	Lily Heim, 48
Digs	Sabrina Bianco, 23	Montana Watts, 34
Aces	Meredith Wallace, 2 Hannah Flowers, 2	Three players, 1
Blocks	Andrea O'Connor, 4	Meryn Kennedy, 6

First Set

The match began with the action back-and-forth. In the set's first 22 points, there were five ties and three lead changes.
Memphis used a 4-1 run to grab a 15-12 advantage.
Memphis got kills from Meredith Wallace and Hannah Flowers in the spurt.
The Mustangs closed to within two at 16-14, but the Tigers answered with a 6-1 run to take a 22-15 lead.
Memphis closed the set on two Wallace kills and one Anna Palmer kill for the 25-19 win.

Second Set

SMU answered in a big way in the second set.
The Mustangs jumped out to a 10-5 lead and did not trail the rest of the way.
Memphis pulled to within five points on two occasions at 14-9 and 19-14, but got no closer.
SMU won the set 25-16.

Third Set

Much like the opening set, the third stanza was nip-and-tuck.
The set had eight ties and three lead changes. The largest lead was four points.
After the first 20 points, Memphis held a narrow 11-9 advantage.
Wallace had three kills and Birkel two in Memphis' first 11 points.
Memphis used a 5-3 spurt to push out to a 16-12 advantage.
The Tigers held their four-point spread at 20-16 when SMU made a run.
SMU went on a 4-2 spurt to pull to within two at 22-20.
The Mustangs then used a 4-1 spurt to grab a 24-23 lead.
A Palmer kill tied the set at 24-all and sent the set to extras.
After a Birkel kill tied the score at 25-all, SMU won the next two points to take the set 27-25.

Fourth Set

Memphis and SMU were tied at 6-all when the Tigers used a 6-2 run to grab a 12-8 lead.
Wallace downed three kills in the run.
The Tigers then extended their lead to six at 17-11.
Flowers powered down two kills to help Memphis grab the six-point advantage.
SMU cut the lead to four at 17-13, but the Tigers answered with an 8-6 run to close the set.
Birkel had four kills down the stretch, including three-straight to give Memphis a 20-13 lead.
Memphis won the set 25-19.

Fifth Set

The final set was tight throughout with 10 ties and six lead changes.
Each team's largest lead in the set was two points.
SMU took the lead at 12-11 and did not trail the rest of the set.
Memphis tied the set at 12-all and 13-all, but never got the score needed to take the lead late.
A Flowers kill tied the set for the last time at 13-all, before SMU closed out the match with the last two points for the 15-13 set victory and 3-2 match win.