Oct. 7, 2008
Box Score
JONESBORO, Ark. -
Arkansas State 3, Memphis 1 
Memphis (12-7) 23 25 20 22
Arkansas State (15-4) 25 18 25 25
Match Leaders:
Kills: ASU- Konae Purcell (15); MEM- Emily Underwood (13). Assists: ASU- Laura Bennett (46); MEM- Laura Côté (45). Service Aces: ASU- Cayla Fielder (2); MEM- Christine Bach (2). Digs: MEM- Christine Bach (20); ASU- Kristen Catalane (16). Blocks: ASU- Cayla Fielder (8); MEM- Emily Underwood (4).
Memphis freshman outside hitter Kelsey Knoche came off the bench to down a career-high 10 kills, while Emily Underwood and Rebekah Strickland recorded 13 and 12 kills, respectively, but that wasn't enough for the Tigers in a 3-1 loss to Arkansas State in non-conference action on Tuesday night.
"I have to give credit to Arkansas State for playing a nice match," said head coach April Jauregui. "They had a great game plan against us. Tonight's lesson is that our kids need to come ready to play and keep fighting. With our system and philosophy everyone gets to play all of the time, we mix it up and tonight we did that. We got a nice performance from Kelsey Knoche, who came in, in really her first real match as a freshman and put down 10 kills and hit .294. I'm proud of her for that. We're going to go back to practice tomorrow and keep working on our offense and get ready for conference play this weeked."
In the first extended outing of her career, Knoche provided Memphis with a spark, hitting .292 on 24 swings. Underwood hit a strong .300, while setter Laura Côté scored four kills and handed out 45 assists. Defensively, Christine Bach picked up a match-best 20 digs for the Tigers, while Underwood made four blocks.
Memphis struggled out of the gates, falling behind 4-0 before Carolyn Baker got the Tigers on the board with a kill and ignited a 5-1 rally. An attacking error by Arkansas State gave Memphis its largest lead at 7-5. Block assists by Underwood and Côté made it 8-6 and a termination by Underwood gave Memphis a 9-7 advantage. That's when A-State turned up its intensity to score an 11-3 push to take its largest lead, 18-12. The Red Wolves maintained the six point lead at 20-14 before Memphis made a surge to make it a close game. A pair of kills by Baker, combined by strikes from Knoche and Strickland fueled a 9-4 run by the Tigers that cut the deficit to just one point at 23-24. However, Memphis failed to convert on its next attacking opportunity to end the opening set, 25-23.
Strickland connected with a Côté set to give Memphis a 12-9 lead midway through the second, but the Red Wolves bounced back to gain ties at 13, 14 and 15. Underwood, Côté and Knoche downed kills on each of the next three serves to give Tigers an 18-15 cushion and force an A-State timeout. A pair of ASU errors pushed the Memphis rally to five-straight and made it 20-15. Underwood and Strickland closed the game out at 25-18 and sent the Tigers into the locker room tied at 1-1. Memphis' offense regrouped in the second to hit .355.
Memphis led a tight third set most of the way until the Tigers committed a hitting error and the Red Wolves followed with a block to claim a 20-19 lead--its first lead since early in the set. Arkansas State outscored Memphis 7-1 to end the game. Led by six kills from outside hitter Konae Purcell, ASU hit .306 in the set, while Memphis hit just .167.
An 8-2 run by Arkansas State turned a three-point Memphis advantage into a three-point deficit at 18-15 and forced the Tigers into a timeout. Trailing 19-16, Underwood hammered two consecutive kills and Thompson followed with another to knot the set at 19-19. But A-State responded with back-to-back scores to take control 21-19. Memphis tried to keep things close after Knoche's 10th kill made it 22-21, but that was all the Tigers had left in a 25-22 loss.
The Red Wolves got a match-high 15 kills from Purcell and setter Laura Bennety led all players with 46 assists. Joelle Mafo (12 kills), Kristen Catalane (11 kills) and Cayla Fielder (10 kills) all reached double figures in kills for A-State. Fielder was solid on both sides of the net, making eight block assists. Catalane completed a double-double night with 16 digs and libero Erin Neeley added 13 digs.
Memphis will stay on the road for C-USA action this weekend at UCF on Friday and Southern Miss on Sunday.
