Volleyball Defeats Alabama State

Friday, September 13

Carbondale, Ill.

10 am CT

University of Memphis

7-0

Alabama State

3-5

Alabama State

Memphis

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Sep 13, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Tigers improve to 7-0, face Southern Illinois Friday night.

CARBONDALE, Ill. –University of Memphis' Sabrina Bianco and Meredith Wallace posted double-doubles to lift the Tigers to a 3-1 victory over Alabama State in the opening match of the 2019 Saluki Invitational Friday. Southern Illinois is hosting the two-day tournament.

Memphis won the match by scores of 25-16, 25-23, 21-25 and 25-13. The Tigers improved to 7-0 on the season, and Alabama State fell to 3-5.

Bianco had 43 assists and 12 digs for her double-double performance, and Wallace recorded a team-high 18 kills and 11 digs for her double-double.

Up Next
The Tigers face host Southern Illinois at 7:30 p.m. (CT) Friday night. The Salukis dropped their afternoon match to IUPUI by a 3-2 score.

Head coach Sean Burdette comments
"Alabama State, as we expected, came out wanting to swing and score. We were able to neutralize their offense a bit with solid serving. We let them back in the second set and found ourselves down late, but clutch serving by Hannah, along with our blocking, got us back in the position to win.

"We dropped the third set as we did not side out well. We made some adjustments and player personnel changes in the fourth and got good production from Kaitlyn at libero and Kinkaid as a defensive specialist. She steadied us in the backcourt. Caitlin made a physical presence at the net and provided some good point scoring for us. We were glad to get the win against a team that kept coming at us from an attacking and blocking standpoint."

Statistic	Memphis Leaders	Alabama State Leaders
Kills	Meredith Wallace, 18	Krysta Medearis, 14
Assists	Sabrina Bianco, 43	Madison Beasley, 19
Digs	Gigi Crescenzo, 15	Emersen Belles, 18
Aces	Hannah Flowers, 3	McKenzie Boland, 2
Blocks	Hannah Flowers, 4 Andrea O'Connor, 4	Taryn King, 5

Tigers Tidbits

The Tigers' 7-0 start is their best since 2001 (10-0). The 7-0 start ties the 2006 team's start.
Meredith Wallace posted her second career double-double (also second of the season) with 18 kills and a career-high tying 11 digs. She also had 11 digs in wins over South Dakota State and Gardner-Webb.
Meredith Wallace recorded her fourth double-digit kills match of the season, with all coming on the road. She has 92 total kills this season and 69 have come in matches away from the Elma Roane Fieldhouse.
For her career, Meredith Wallace now has six double-figures kills matches (four in 2019).
Sabrina Bianco logged her seventh career double-double and her third as a Tiger.
Sabrina Bianco posted her third 40-plus assists match of the season. It is the fourth of her career.
Hannah Flowers' 15 kills moved her within two of reaching 700 for her career. She entered 2019 with 630 kills, and this season, she's added 68 to that total for 698.

First Set

The match began neck-and-neck with Memphis holding a 10-8 lead early.
The Tigers put together a 6-2 spurt to extend their advantage to 16-10. Three different Tigers had kilsl in the run.
The Hornets closed to within three at 16-13, but did not cut into the lead further.
Memphis wrapped up the set with a 9-3 run for the 25-16 victory.
Three Hannah Flowers' kills paced the final spurt.

Second Set

The second set was one of momentum swings.
The Tigers made the first run, grabbing a 10-6 lead on consecutive kills from Meredith Wallace and Sabrina Bianco.
The Hornets put together a major 14-6 spurt to take a 20-16 lead. Alabama State began its run with two service aces and ended it with three-straight kills.
Memphis, though, responded with a 6-3 run to cut the Hornets' lead to 23-22.
The Tigers won the last three points of the set off Flowers' serve with an Alabama State error and two aces to take the set 25-23 in come-from-behind fashion.

Third Set

Memphis took the early lead and extended it to five at 16-11. Three kills apiece from Wallace and Flowers ignited the Tigers' play.
Alabama State answered with an 8-2 spurt to take a 19-18 advantage.
The Tigers had no answer, and the Hornets continued their run to push the lead to five at 23-18.
The Hornets took the set by a 25-21 score.

Fourth Set

Memphis fell behind 1-0, but never trailed the rest of the way.
The Tigers broke open a tight set with an 8-2 run midway through to grab a 17-10 lead.
Bianco scored three points on her serve (one Hornets' error/two aces), and Kaitlyn Gehler added another ace.
Memphis scored eight of the set's final nine points, including the last four off Gigi Crescenzo's serve, for the 25-13 win.