Volleyball Preview: Tulsa, Wichita State

Friday, November 8

Tulsa, Okla.

12 pm CT

University of Memphis

Tulsa*

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Nov 07, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Tigers make final road trip of regular season this weekend.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The University of Memphis volleyball squad is going through the "second-time-around" portion of its 2019 schedule the last two weekends of American Athletic Conference regular-season play, and it starts with a road trip to Tulsa and Wichita State this Friday and Sunday.

This season, the league is split into East and West Divisions, so the Tigers are going to see all divisional foes the final two weekends of the season. Memphis hosts Houston and Tulane the weekend of Nov. 15-17 at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse.

The Tigers began league play in late September-early October with these same four teams and dropped all four matches, but three by narrow 3-2 scores. Memphis lost to Wichita State 3-2 and Tulsa 3-0 at home to open October. The Tigers fell 3-2 at Tulane and Houston to open conference action the last weekend in September.

Memphis' American Athletic Conference Road Weekend

Date/Day	Opponent	Time (CT)
Nov. 8/Friday	at Tulsa	12 p.m.
Nov. 10/Sunday	at Wichita State	1 p.m.

Memphis/Opponents Breakdown

	Memphis	Tulsa	Wichita State
2019 Record	15-9, 4-8 The American	14-11, 7-5 The American	7-17, 4-8 The American
Series		Tulsa leads 16-13	WSU leads 5-1
Last Meeting		Tulsa won 3-0 (in Memphis, 2019)	WSU won 3-2 (in Memphis, 2019)
Kills Leader	Hannah Flowers, 318	Dilara Gedikoglu, 390	Megan Taflinger, 233
Assists Leader	Sabrina Bianco, 963	Roosa Rautio, 553	McKayla Wuensch, 391
Digs Leader	Kaitlyn Gehler, 358	Taylor Horsfall, 573	Kara Bown, 276
Blocks Leader	Andrea O'Connor, 60	Callie Cook, 104	Emma Wright, 71
Aces Leader	Hannah Flowers, 43	Taylor Horsfall, 33	Kara Bown, 18

Head coach Sean Burdette comments
(On Tulsa)
"Their physicality is first and foremost. The have a great defender, and they play a team defense that is very good. We have to be able to cover our hitters. We also have to bring our serve and serve-receive game, and that's going to be key there. We need to add pressure with our serve."

(On Wichita State)
"One thing they do so well year after year is they have a good product they put on the floor, and people come and watch and support that program. It's awesome to see a couple of thousand people in the arena, and they love volleyball. They love seeing good volleyball. They are great fans to play in front of, and they support both teams playing hard. That's a good environment for them.

"Wichita State is always good at game planning. He's always good at fine-tuning and finding ways for his team to score and putting his players in positions to score."

Tigers Tidbits

With their win over USF Nov. 3, the Tigers secured their first winning season since 2015.
Since becoming American Athletic Conference rivals in 2014, Memphis and Tulsa are tied at 5-all in the 10 meetings. Wichita State joined the league in 2017 and has won all four meetings against the Tigers.
Freshman Sabria Cooper is facing a team from her home state this weekend. The Oklahoma City, Okla., native meets Tulsa for the second time in her career Friday. Cooper posted four kills against the Golden Hurricane Oct. 6.
Sunday's Memphis-Wichita State match provides a Mountain West Conference (MWC) reunion for two players. The Tigers' Sabrina Bianco and the Shockers' McKayla Wuensch both played in the MWC in 2018. Bianco starred at New Mexico, and Wuensch at Nevada. Bianco's Lobos got the better of both meetings in 2018, with New Mexico winning 3-2 in Albuquerque, N.M., and 3-1 in Reno, Nev. Both players had solid performances in the two matches. Bianco totaled 47 assists and 18 digs, including one double-double, in the two meetings. Wuensch had 51 assists and 23 digs and posted double-doubles in the two matches. In the Oct. 4 Wichita State win at Memphis, Bianco had 43 assists and Wuensch 49.
Speaking of five-set matches in 2019, Memphis and Wichita State both have played their fair share. The Tigers have played seven five-set matches and are 3-4 in those encounters. The Shockers have played five "going-the-distance" matches and are 2-3.
The Memphis-Tulsa match features two of the top players in serving aces. Memphis' Hannah Flowers is first in the conference in the statistical category, and Tulsa's Taylor Horsfall is fourth.
This weekend's action features three of the conference's top liberos/defensive specialists. Tulsa's Taylor Horsfall leads the league in digs (6.03 dps/573 total), followed by Memphis' Kaitlyh Gehler (3.93 dps/358 total) in seventh and Wichita State's Kara Bown (3.58 dps/276 total) in 10^th.