Sept. 30, 2009

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -

Southern Miss-UCF Match Notes

The Memphis volleyball team will get its first taste of life on the road this weekend when it travels to Southern Miss and UCF for a pair of Conference USA matches, October 2-4. The Tigers (2-14, 0-3 C-USA) will battle the Golden Eagles at 7 p.m. on Friday. First serve for Sunday's contest at UCF is slated for 12 p.m. EST.

Tigers Tales
Memphis has lost seven-straight, but looked rejuvenated with the clearance of freshman outside hitter Maja Jovanovic. The Tigers are winless in two road matches this year. They were swept at Missouri State and Western Kentucky.

Redshirt freshman Altrese Hawkins leads the team with 147 kills and 2.67 kills per set, while sophomore middle blocker Carolyn Baker hits a team-best .250. Junior outside hitter Katlin Inglish is a close second on the club with 145 kills, while senior outside Lauren Thompson rounds out the Tiger's trio of hitters with at least 100 kills. Junior setter Christine Bach runs the offense with a team-high 391 assists (7.89 aps).

Junior libero Becky Shaffer leads the Memphis defense and ranks fourth in Conference USA with 245 digs (4.45 dps). Bach and defensive specialist Rachel Theard have picked up 166 and 134 digs, respectively. Baker leads the Tigers' frontline efforts with 45 total blocks.

Last Time Out
Houston 3, Memphis 1

Houston (4-13; 1-1 C-USA)    21  25  25  28
Memphis (2-14; 0-3 C-USA)    25  21  23  26

MEMPHIS, Tenn.-The Tigers dropped a 3-1 decision to Houston in Conference USA action on Sat., Sept. 26.

In her much-anticipated collegiate debut, freshman Maja Jovanovic posted a double-double with 24 kills, 10 digs and a .388 attack percentage, but Memphis was unable to find victory, losing a 3-1 decision to Houston, Saturday night at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. The Tigers fall to 2-14, 0-3 in C-USA action.

Memphis, who hit .267 in the match and .310 through three sets, also got 12 kills from Katlin Inglish and 10 from Altrese Hawkins. Inglish hit .355 in the contest. Christine Bach dished out 46 assists.

Scouting Southern Miss
Friday night's match will be the Conference USA home opener for Southern Miss, who enters the weekend's action with a 14-3 overall mark and a 2-1 record in C-USA play. The Golden Eagles' 14 wins ranks as second-most in the league (behind Marshall's 15). USM, 3-0 at home, got the season off to a fast 14-1 start that included a 13-match win streak.

Defense is the strength of the Golden Eagles game. USM boasts the conference's top defense, holding opposing teams to a combined .127 average. That effort is due largely to the play of the frontrow-backrow tandem of middle blocker Sara Jane Bowden and libero Maia Ivanova. Bowden leads the team and ranks 10th in C-USA with 0.97 blocks per set (56 TB). Ivanova patrols the backrow and paces the club with 4.21 digs per set-good for seventh in the league. She is the only Golden Eagles player with over 200 digs, at 261. Ivanova became the all-time leader in digs for the Golden Eagles. She currently has 1,668 digs, ranking seventh on C-USA's all-time chart. USM averages 2.10 blocks per game and 15.48 digs per set.

Offensively, Sophomore setter Kelsey Seymour ranks fourth in C-USA with 10.13 assists per set (608 total assists). Seymour leads the league with 12 double-doubles. Lauren Sears leads the team in hitting, checking in with a .286 percentage on 132 kills. Outside hitters Ashley Mell and Caitlin Clarke rank one and two on the squad with 180 and 172 kills, respectively.

Last Time vs. Southern Miss
Memphis 3, Southern Miss 1

Southern Miss (13-11; 3-8 C-USA)   20  11  25  20
Memphis (15-10; 6-5 C-USA)         25  25  22  25

MEMPHIS, Tenn.- Senior setter Laura Côté posted her second consecutive double-double with 46 assists and 14 digs and Memphis was solid on both sides of the net as it pushed past Southern Miss, 3-1, in C-USA action.

Côté had three efficient options in the contest, led by Emily Underwood. After connecting for a career-high 21 kills on Friday, the middle hitter struck for a match-best 15 kills, hit .414 and made four total blocks. She got offensive help from Tiger outsides Katlin Inglish and Lauren Thompson. Inglish fired away for 14 kills, while Thompson finished with 13.

When it wasn't the Tiger offense, it was the defense as Memphis out blocked Southern Miss 14-3. Casey Sines finished the day with a career-best 10 total blocks, while Rebekah Strickland made five block assists. Côté joined Underwood with four total rejections. Christine Bach picked up a match-best 21 digs in the contest to help Memphis hold USM to .136 hitting.

All-Time Series vs. Southern Miss
Memphis is 23-12 all-time against Southern Miss. The Tigers and Golden Eagles split the 2008 season series. The Tigers avenged a 3-1 loss early in the season with a four-set victory over USM on October 26. The October 12 loss to Southern Miss was the first for Memphis since the 2003 season. It also snapped a seven-match win streak against the Golden Eagles.

Scouting the UCF Knights
With eight letterwinners back from last year's club that went 15-17, the UCF Knights have shown considerable improvement this season. They enter the weekend with an even 8-8 mark, but are winless in three C-USA matches. The Knight jumped out to a fast start, winning its first five matches, but are currently reeling in the midst of a six-match losing streak.

The Knights are led by seniors Erin Campbell and Andee Youngblood. Campbell, who notched her 1,000th career kill and 1,000th versus ECU last weekend. is the team leader in kills, with 217. She ranks eighth in the conference in that category and is one of just five players league wide with over 200 kills. Campbell averages 3.50 kills per set. Freshman Sara Rex is the club's most efficient hitter, hitting .412 with 71 kills. Youngblood has doled out 580 assists (9.35 aps). Freshman Nicole Riedel leads the team and ranks sixth in the league with 0.33 service aces per set.

The Knights hold opponents to a .190 attack percentage. Rex leads the defensive stand with 47 total blocks. Her 0.98 blocks per set average ranks eighth in C-USA. Libero Meredith Murphy leads the Knights and ranks fifth in the league with 4.31 digs per set.

Last Time vs. UCF
Memphis 3, UCF 2

UCF (13-11; 5-5 C-USA)       23  12  25  25    6
Memphis (14-10; 5-5 C-USA)   25  25  16  21  15

MEMPHIS, Tenn.-Middle blocker Emily Underwood put down a career-high 21 kills and made eight block assists, while senior setter Laura Côté posted her first double-double of the year with 52 assists and 15 digs as Memphis held off a late rally by UCF to clinch a 3-2 win in C-USA action, at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. Memphis improved to 14-10 on the year and 5-5 in league play.

In addition to the play of Underwood and Côté, Memphis got a strong performance from Thompson. The reserve outside hitter recorded 13 kills, including seven in the fourth set.

Defensively, Christine Bach led the way with a match-high 22 digs. In a blocking war, it was Memphis who emerged on top, out blocking UCF 17-14. Underwood and freshman middle Casey Sines both had eight block assists, while Strickland had six and Côté, five. UCF's Erin Campbell posted four solo rejects.

All-Time Series vs. UCF
Memphis holds a 10-6 advantage over UCF in the all-time series between the two institutions. The series dates back to the 1979 season, when UCF handed Memphis a 2-1 defeat. Memphis came away with 2-0 sweeps in 1980 and `81. The two split the season series in 2008, with both teams winning on its home floor. Since UCF joined Conference USA in 2005, the Tigers are 7-2 versus the Knights.

OH Maja!
In her long-awaited collegiate debut, Memphis freshman Maja Jovanovic posted a double-double with 24 kills, 10 digs and a .388 attack percentage. That performance ranks as the most kills by a freshman, in her collegiate debut.

High Flyin' Freshman
Freshman right side hitter Altrese Hawkins has made an immediate impact on the Tigers offensive production this season. Hawkins, who touches 10-5, leads the team with 147 kills and 2.67 kills per set. She has downed 10 or more kills nine times this year, including in each of the last six. Hawkins is quickly putting together one of the most prolific rookie campaigns in Memphis volleyball history. Of the 20 players on the Tigers' 1,000 list, 14 are listed on the list for most kills by a freshman

Top Freshman Kills List
Player Year Kills

1. Jessica Henry        1998    385
2. Ginger Garrett       1998    359
3. Nancy Nellans        2002    353
4. Amy Greer            1993    320
5. Ashley Liford        2004    305
6. Shoni Hodges         1994    299
7. Monique Swaby        1992    290
8. Rosie Glenn          1996    262
9. Peggy Rule           1983    249
10. Renee Ross          1991    213
11. Melissa Nance       2003    202
12. Nancy Wolter        1985    191
13. Kara Cronin         1987    187
14. Brittany Barnett    2000    182
15. Angie Glaub         1983    163
16. Shelby Burton       2004    154
17. Jessica Trezise     1997    153
18. Tara Pfeffer        1995    151
19. Altrese Hawkins     2009    147
20. Marie Zwolinski     1987    144

Double Up
Sixteen matches into the season, Memphis has posted more double-doubles than it did the entire 2008 season. Led by Christine Bach's team-high six double-doubles, Memphis has posted 12 double-double performances in 2009.

Tryin' to Keep the Streak Alive
With 15 matches remaining on the 2009 regular season schedule, Memphis, 2-14, find itself fighting to produce its ninth-straight season with a .500 or better finish. To clinch that feat, the Tigers must go at least 13-2 to round out the regular season, and then post two wins in the C-USA Tournament.

Dig Pink
On Oct. 9, the University of Memphis volleyball team with join the Side-Out Foundation to promote Breast health education in the community as well as raising funds to help eradicate Breast Cancer. The Tigers will host East Carolina in their annual Dig Pink match with the first serve for the contest set for 7 p.m. at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. Admission will be free for those wearing pink.

For more information about the event, please contact University of Memphis marketing assistant, Nicole Imbrogno at n.imbrogno@memphis.edu or (901) 678.1792. To donate to the cause, log onto Memphis volleyball's Dig Pink team page at https://www.side-out.org/application/teams/team_page/1560. That link is also located on the sidebar of the volleyball page at www.gotigersgo.com.

The proceeds from all donations will benefit the Side-Out Foundation, a national 501(c)(3) located in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area.

Tigers on the Tube
Tiger volleyball will make an appearance on TV during the regular season, as the Tigers' match at East Carolina will air on a tape-delay basis on November 10. The Tigers had one televised home match last year in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse.

Up Next?
Memphis will come back home for the next four matches, beginning with a Tues., Oct. 6 bout versus UCA. First serve is set for 7 p.m. at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. Memphis will host East Carolina (Fri., Oct. 9) and Marshall (Sat. Oct. 10) in league action next weekend.