Volleyball Remains Perfect On The Season

Friday, September 13

Carbondale, Ill.

7:30 pm CT

University of Memphis

8-0

Southern Illinois

4-5

Memphis

Southern Ill.

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Sep 14, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Tigers improve to 8-0, meet IUPUI for tourney title Saturday.

CARBONDALE, Ill. – University of Memphis' Hannah Flowers downed 15 kills and Kaitlyn Gehler collected 28 digs to lead the Tigers to a hard-fought 3-2 victory over host Southern Illinois in their second match of the Saluki Invitational Friday.

Memphis took the match over the Salukis by scores of 26-24, 25-17, 23-25, 13-25 and 15-10. With the victory, the Tigers improved to 8-0 on the season. The 8-0 record is the second-best start to a campaign in program history (10-0 in 2001). Southern Illinois dropped to 4-5.

Flowers led Memphis with her 15 kills, and it was her service game in the fifth set that helped the Tigers grab the lead for good. With the score tied at 5-all in the deciding set, Flowers served three-straight points (ace/two SIU errors) to push Memphis out to an 8-5 lead. The Tigers never trailed again.

Gehler posted a season-high 28 digs.

Up Next
The Tigers move to Saturday's championship match versus IUPUI at 11 a.m. (CT). Memphis and the Jaguars both are 2-0 in the Saluki Invitational with wins over Alabama State and Southern Illinois.

Head coach Sean Burdette comments
"Wow, where to start? We played very well in the first two sets, but then let up in the third. We didn't respond well early in the fourth set, but found some momentum late with some players stepping up. Anna came in with some big kills and brought a steadiness to our serve receive. Kinkaid also was very good in the backcourt for us. Hannah had a good night and brought key kills. The bench provided a ton of energy at the end of the fourth and then came through for us in the final set.

"We got back to what works best in keeping the ball off the floor. I'm really proud of this team, especially when they had their backs against the wall. It would have been easy to give in to their momentum, but we pushed through."

Statistic	Memphis Leaders	Southern Illinois Leaders
Kills	Hannah Flowers, 15	Rachel Maguire, 13
Assists	Sabrina Bianco, 43	Alayna Martn, 23
Digs	Kaitlyn Gehler, 28	Laura Rojas, 22
Aces	Sabria Cooper, 3	Lindsey Paulsen, 2
Blocks	Sabria Cooper, 5	Lindsey Paulsen, 5

Tigers Tidbits

The Tigers' 8-0 start is the second-best in program history to the 2001 team's 10-0 mark to begin that campaign.
Memphis will battle for its third in-season tournament title Saturday when the Tigers face IUPUI. The last time the Tigers won three in-season tournament crowns in a campaign came in 2011. The last time Memphis won two in-season tournament championships on the road was in 2014 (at Tennessee, at Mississippi State).
So much for fearing Friday the 13^thfor Memphis. The Tigers swept their Friday the 13^thmatches with wins over Alabama State and Southern Illinois. Since 2000, Memphis has a 7-2 record when playing on Friday the 13^th. The Tigers have won seven of their last eight matches played on Friday the 13^th.
Hannah Flowers went over the 700-kills plateau for her career in Friday night's win over Southern Illinois. She entered the match with 698 kills and added 15 versus the Salukis to give her 713 for her career.
Meredith Wallace recorded her fifth double-digit kills match of the season, with all coming on the road. She has 105 total kills this season and 82 have come in matches away from the Elma Roane Fieldhouse.
For her career, Meredith Wallace now has seven double-figures kills matches (five in 2019).
Sabrina Bianco posted her fourth 40-plus assists match of the season. It is the fifth of her career.
Kaitlyn Gehler's 28 digs were the most by a Tiger in a match this season.

First Set

Memphis grabbed the early lead at 10-4 led by two kills apiece from Sabria Cooper and Meredith Wallace.
The Tigers maintained their lead at six for a while and then increased it to eight at 19-11 on a Hannah Flowers' kill.
Southern Illinois, though, did not go away.
The Salukis put together a furious run (13-5) to knot the set at 24-all.
Wallace downed the next two kills to claim the set for the Tigers at 26-24.

Second Set

Like the first set, the Tigers jumped out to a 10-4 lead.
Memphis won four points in the opening surge off Kaitlyn Gehler's serve, and Caitlin Schultz capped the spurt with a kill.
The Salukis, however, did not respond as they did in the opening set.
Memphis extended its lead to 19-9 on a Southern Illinois attack error.
From there, the Tigers went on to take the set 25-17 and a 2-0 match advantage.

Third Set

The set remained nip-and-tuck early with five ties in the first 18 points. The last tie was at 9-all.
Southern Illinois used a 7-2 spurt to push out to a 16-11 advantage.
The Tigers answered back with a 9-4 run to knot the set at 20-all on a Cooper service ace.
The Salukis downed kills for the next three points to take a 23-20 lead.
Southern Illinois held off Memphis for the 25-23 final.

Fourth Set

Southern Illinois pulled out to an 8-1 lead and never let up in the set.
The Salukis led by 12 at 18-6 and cruised to the 25-13 set victory.

Fifth Set

With momentum from the fourth set, Southern Illinois took an early 3-1 lead.
Memphis responded to tie the set at 5-all.
Flowers then won the next three points on her serve for an 8-5 Tigers' lead.
An Anna Palmer kill followed by three points off Gigi Crescenzo's serve extended the Memphis advantage to 11-6.
Cooper's serve led Memphis to the doorstep of the set at 14-7.
Memphis won the set 15-10 and match 3-2 on a Southern Illinois attack error.