Volleyball Preview: Saluki Invitational

Friday, September 13

Carbondale, Ill.

10 am CT

University of Memphis

Alabama State

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Sep 12, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Tigers to face Alabama State, IUPUI, Southern Illinois this weekend.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The University of Memphis volleyball team looks to keep its winning streak intact when it travels to Carbondale, Ill., for the 2019 Saluki Invitational this weekend. The Tigers begin action Friday morning at 10 a.m. (CT) in the two-day tournament.

Southern Illinois is the host school, and Alabama State and IUPUI joins Memphis and the Salukis for the event.

Memphis enters this weekend's action with a 6-0 record for the first time since 2006. That 2006 team went 7-0 before its first setback. Since 2000, the Tigers have started a season 6-0 or better two previous times, and each season ended with a 20-plus win ledger (2001: 10-0 start, 22-10 final record; 2006: 7-0 start, 27-8 final record).

Memphis Schedule In Saluki Invitational

Date/Day	Match	Time (CT)
Sept. 13/Friday	Alabama State	10 am
	Southern Illinois	7:30 pm
Sept. 14/Saturday	IUPUI	11 am

Memphis/Opponents Breakdown

	Memphis	Alabama State	IUPUI	Southern Illinois
2019 Record	6-0	3-4	2-4	3-3
Series	-------	First meeting	IUPUI leads 1-0	SIU leads 13-6
Kills Leader	Meredith Wallace, 74	Baylé Bennett, 79	McKayla Wright, 84	Rachel Maguire, 61
Assists Leader	Sabrina Bianco, 218	Madison Beasley, 159	Rebecca Schlechte, 193	Alayna Martin, 130
Digs Leader	Mia Migliore, 84	Emersen Belles, 60	Rachel Hickey, 73	Laura Rojas, 98
Blocks Leader	Sabria Cooper, 17	E'laisah Young, 16	Haley Hoffman, 32	Emma Baalman, 13

Head coach Sean Burdette comments
(On the 6-0 start)
"Number one, it was great playing back at home last weekend and getting wins. Learning how to win is a big thing for us. Winning is contagious, and they also say the same thing about losing. The players that we've brought in and the players that returned have played at high levels, especially in club and high school. They've won state championships and won club national championships. When you bring those together and they lean on each other and compete against one another in practice, it makes for a good product."

(On this weekend's Saluki Invitational)
"It's a good tournament for us. These are teams that get after it. I've watched them on film. We start with Alabama State Friday morning, and they have good athleticism. They have a couple of players that hit the ball well. Then, we turn around later that evening and face host Southern Illinois. We finish with IUPUI on Saturday, and the Jaguars are a familiar foe for me when I coached at Green Bay. We'll have three tough tests."

Tigers Tidbits

At this weekend's Saluki Invitational, Memphis faces one opponent for the first time and two others it hasn't seen in quite a while. The Tigers plays first-time foe Alabama State Friday morning. Memphis then meets Southern Illinois later Friday for the first time since 2012. On Saturday, the Tigers and IUPUI battle for the first time since 2008.
The Tigers and Salukis are meeting for the 20^thtime in the series Friday night, and recent history has been kind to Memphis. The Tigers have won four of the last five match-ups, including their last trip to Carbondale in 2011. Southern Illinois took the last meeting in 2012 in Memphis.
Yes, the Tigers are playing on Friday the 13^th. But, the "scary" date has actually been kind to Memphis in the 2000s. Since the turn of the century, the Tigers have played seven Friday the 13^th matches, and won five. In fact, Memphis has won five of its last six Friday the 13^thmatches. However, the Tigers dropped their last Friday the 13^thouting to Tulsa in October 2017.
None of the current Tigers players or coaches remember, but a former Memphis (State) head coach is facing her former school this weekend. Penny Lucas-White, who is in her ninth season at Alabama State, led the Memphis (State) program from 1991-95. In fact, she coached the program during the school's name change from Memphis State to the University of Memphis. In her five seasons in the Bluff City, Lucas-White led the Tigers to three 20-win campaigns, two Great Midwest Conference (GMC) regular-season titles (1993, 1994), one GMC Tournament crown (1994) and one NCAA Tournament appearance (1994).
This weekend, Memphis is vying for its third in-season tournament crown overall and its second road tournament title of 2019. The last time the Tigers won three in-season tournament championships in a single campaign was in 2011. The last time Memphis won two road in-season tournaments was in 2014, taking crowns at Tennessee and Mississippi State.
Last weekend, Memphis set two American Athletic Conference records for aces. In the win over UT Martin, the Tigers, as a team, set the league record for aces in a four-set match with 14. Junior Hannah Flowers served seven of the team's 14 aces in the match. Flowers' seven aces were a career-high and also tied the conference record for aces in a four-set match.