Volleyball Sets Program Record Start

Friday, September 20

Memphis, Tenn.

7 pm CT

University of Memphis

11-0

Toledo (Raid The Roane)

6-5

Toledo

Memphis

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Sep 20, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Tigers are one of five undefeated teams in NCAA Division I volleyball in 2019.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – They did it! They did it!

With its 3-1 win over Toledo in Friday night's Beale Street Challenge, the University of Memphis volleyball recorded the best start in program history, improving to 11-0 on the season. The 2019 squad surpassed the 2001 team's 10-0 start.

The Tigers also remained one of the nation's unbeaten programs with the win. Memphis now is one of five undefeated teams in NCAA Division I volleyball this season. The four other unbeaten NCAA Division I programs are Baylor, California, Hawai'i and Pittsburgh.

Memphis won the match over Toledo by scores of 25-22, 15-25, 25-19 and 25-21. The win was the Tigers' second of the day, as they defeated North Alabama 3-0 in earlier action. With the setback, Toledo dropped to 6-5.

The Hannah Flowers-Sabrina Bianco-Kaitlyn Gehler trio led Memphis in the victory over Toledo. Flowers downed 18 kills and served four aces, and Bianco recorded a double-double of 35 assists and 12 digs. Gehler collected a match-best 17 digs.

Up Next
Memphis (2-0 tournament record) meets Southeast Missouri (2-0) in the title match of the 2019 Beale Street Challenge Saturday at 1 p.m. (CT) at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. Admission is free.

Head coach Sean Burdette comments
"This was a barn-burner tonight. They made some adjustments, and we countered with our adjustments. It just came down to execution. Hannah led us on offense and in block set-ups, and our bench tonight was fantastic. They stayed involved and engaged, and that helped everyone. I'm really proud of that. The (record start) is great, but I tell everybody that what's been done so far is behind us. The next focus is the next match, which is tomorrow."

Tigers Tidbits

Hannah Flowers had her sixth-straight double-digit kills match and her seventh overall of the season. It was her 42^nddouble-figures kills match of her career.
With her four aces versus Toledo, Hannah Flowers increased her season total to 28. Entering this weekend's play, Flowers led the American Athletic Conference and was ranked among the top-10 nationally in aces.
Sabrina Bianco logged her eighth career double-double and her fourth as a Tiger.
Sabrina Bianco posted her ninth 30-plus assists match of the season. It was the 13^thof her career.
Kaitlyn Gehler recorded 17 digs versus Toledo. It was her 24^thdouble-figures digs performance of her career.
Gigi Crescenzo had a solid all-around performance with nine kills, nine digs and four total blocks. She also had no reception errors in 30 attempts.

Statistic	Memphis Leaders	Toledo Leaders
Kills	Hannah Flowers, 18	Emma Swope, 20
Assists	Sabrina Bianco, 35	Megan Beasley, 43
Digs	Kaitlyn Gehler, 17	Rhyen Neal, 14
Aces	Hannah Flowers, 4	Two players, 2
Blocks	Gigi Crescenzo, 4 Hannah Flowers, 4	Zoe Birnbrich, 3 Emma Swope, 3

First Set

The match was tied at 6-all when Memphis made the first run.
The Tigers used a Toledo service error and three Hannah Flowers' aces to grab a 10-6 advantage.
The Rockets answered and cut the Memphis lead to one at 12-11.
Memphis went on another mini-run to push its lead back to four at 16-12.
The Tigers maintained some breathing room until 19-15 when Toledo made a surge.
The Rockets went on a 5-2 run to slice the lead to 21-20, but did not get the equalizer.
Two Flowers' kills and an Andrea O'Connor kill secured the 25-22 win.

Second Set

Toledo grabbed a 7-3 lead early and never trailed in the set.
The Rockets increased their advantage to as many as 11 at 21-10.
Toledo won the set 25-15.

Third Set

The set was close early with seven ties in the first 17 points. Memphis led 9-8.
The Tigers used a 7-1 run to build some distance at 16-9. The Tigers won four of their points in the run off Kaitlyn Gehler's service game.
Memphis maintained its seven-point lead at 19-12, but Toledo had one more run.
The Rockets put together a 3-0 mini-run to climb to within four at 19-15. However, that was as close as Toledo got.
The set closed on an exchange of service errors, and Memphis won 25-19.

Fourth Set

In a set that saw eight ties and four lead changes, Memphis went out front first and grabbed a 6-2 advantage.
Three of the Tigers' first six points came off Gehler's serve.
Memphis held the lead at 10-8, but Toledo made a run.
The Rockets put together a 5-1 spurt to take a 13-11 lead.
The Tigers answered and took an 18-16 advantage on a Meredith Wallace kill.
Toledo followed with a 3-0 run for a 19-18 lead.
Two Flowers' kills pushed Memphis out to a 22-20 advantage.
After Toledo closed to within one at 22-21, Memphis finished off the set with a 3-0 run for the 25-21 win and the 3-1 match victory.