Aug. 26, 2010

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -

2010 Belmont Invitational Notes

Head coach April Jauregui and her Memphis Tigers will get the 2010 season underway this weekend with three matches at the Belmont Invitational in Nashville, Tenn. Memphis will open the season on Fri., Aug. 27 at 6:30 p.m., when it takes on Jacksonville State. The Tigers will play a doubleheader on Sat., Aug. 28, facing the host Belmont Bruins at 12:30 p.m., before rounding out the weekend with a matchup versus Miami (Ohio) at 3:30 p.m.

"We have had a very successful pre season camp," Jauregui said. "I am pleased that we have achieved the goals we have set and established the foundation for our system of play. The next step this weekend is solidifying our starting lineup and player rolls. This will be a challenging opening weekend of play. I scheduled these teams in order to test our team early and provide a good gauge for where we need to go from here. All 3 teams in this tournament are comparable to the teams we will face in CUSA. We are ready to meet the challenge."

Memphis, who welcomes nine newcomers to the program, will be led by the sophomore duo of Altrese Hawkins and Marija Jovanovic. Hawkins, who was tabbed a 2010 Preseason All-C-USA member returns after leading the squad with 335 kills and a .282 hitting percentage. Hawkins earned C-USA All-Freshman honors and was named to the COBRA Volleyball Magazine's All-National Second Team. Opposite Hawkins is Jovanovic, who paced the Tigers with 3.30 kills per set in her rookie season. Jovanovic downed 165 kills and added three double-doubles.

On defense, Memphis returns libero Christine Bach and Becky Shaffer, both seniors. Bach, who posted two of the program's top three single season digs totals, served as the libero as a freshman and sophomore made the transition to setter last year. Shaffer stepped up and made a team-high 457 digs in 2009.

Scouting Jacksonville State
Led by ninth-year head coach Rick Nold, a strong Jacksonville State club returns seven letterwinners, including five starters and its libero from last year's squad that went 27-8. JSU raced to a 17-1 mark to claim the Ohio Valley regular season title and followed that up by winning the league's tournament championship. The Gamecocks advanced to the second round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament. OVC

The Gamecocks are led by returnees Lauren Harkins, Jen Meyer, Brooke Schumacher and Caitlin Vorbeck. Harkins picked up a school-record 662 digs in the libero position last year, while Schumacher took over as the program's Division I assists leader. Meyer and Vorbeck are both 2010 preseason All-OVC picks.

All-Time Record vs. Jacksonville State
Memphis leads the all-time series versus Jacksonville State, 3-0. The 2010 season-opener marks the first meeting between the two institutions since the 2000 season. The Tigers won the first-ever contest between the two programs, 3-1, in 1998. Memphis blanked the Gamecocks in each of the last two meetings (1999, 2000).

Scouting Belmont
Belmont enters the 2010 season off of an 18-win campaign a year ago. The Bruins, led by eighth-year head coach Deane Webb, return nine letterwinners (including five seniors) and add five newcomers to this year's roster. Five starters and its starting libero highlight Belmont's cast of returnees.

The Bruins will be led by senior libero Megan Clements and juniors Maggie Johnson and Channing Salava. A First Team All-Atlantic Sun performer a year ago, Johnson paced BU's offensive attack with 427 kills. Salava, a Second Team All-A-Sun selection, set a team-high 1,219 assists, while Clements, who also was tabbed a Second Team All-A-Sun member, anchored the back row with 511 digs.

All-Time Record vs. Belmont
Memphis leads the in-state battle versus Belmont, 3-1. The Tigers swept past the Bruins in the series' first meeting in 2002, and it's last in 2006. The two clubs met twice in 2005, with Memphis outlasting Belmont, 3-2, in the season opening match in the Arkansas Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark. The Bruins exacted revenge later in the year, knocking the Tigers off in five in Nashville.

Scouting Miami (Ohio)
Miami (Ohio) posted a 17-14 mark in 2009 and returns nine letterwinners and two starters from that club. In her 27th year at the helm of the RedHawks volleyball program, Carolyn Condit showcases just two seniors on this year's team to go with four juniors.

MU will look to Michele Metzler in the middle. The senior the team's returning leader after downing 2.31 kills per set and hitting .303 a year ago. Metzler will be joined by Jenn Caylor as the club's lone returning starters. Caylor, a junior, logged 1.12 kills per set and 1.78 digs per set in 2009. On the defensive side of the net, libero Lisa Treadway returns after averaging 3.61 digs per set in her rookie season.

All-Time Record vs. Miami (Ohio)
This year's meeting will be the first-ever between Memphis and Miami (Ohio).

Tigers in Season Openers
Memphis is 22-16 all-time in season-opening contests. The Tigers have been particularly successful in their first match of the year, going 10-3 over the last 13 seasons. The U of M is 1-1 under head coach April Jauregui. The 2010 season represents the first time Memphis has opened the season away from home since 2007. The Tigers were upended by Louisville, 3-1, in the 2007 Louisville Invitational.

Opening Day Highlights
• Memphis defeated Fisk University 2-0 in it's first-ever volleyball match to open the 1971 season.
• The Tigers won each of their first four season-opening competitions from 1971-74.
• Libero Christine Bach set an Opening Day record with 31 digs versus Evansville in 2009. With that outing, she became the first Tiger volleyball player to ever record three 30-plus dig performances.
• Nancy Nellans downed 16 kills, but more notably had 16 digs to become the 17th Tiger to reach the 1,000-kills, 1,000 digs milestone in Memphis' 3-2 Opening Day win over Belmont in 2005.
• Memphis served up an opening match record 19 services aces to power a 3-0 sweep of Tennessee State in its 2004 season-opening match.
• Current Tiger head coach April (Harriman) Jauregui hammered a career-high 24 kills to lead Memphis to a 3-1 win over Wisconsin-Green Bay to open the 2000 season.

Who's Got Next?
Memphis will travel to Chicago to compete in the UIC 2010 Invite next weekend, September 3-4. The Tigers will face the host UIC Flames at 7 p.m. on Fri., Sept. 3. They will take on Northern Illinois (12 p.m.) and Kennesaw State (5 p.m.) in a doubleheader on Sat., Sept. 4.