Nov. 6, 2009

GREENVILLE, N.C. -

Memphis at ECU/Marshall Notes

The University of Memphis volleyball team­ will wrap up the 2009 season with a three-match road stretch, beginning with a pair of league tests this weekend at East Carolina and Marshall. Friday’s match at East Carolina, which is scheduled for a 6 p.m. CST first serve, will be televised on CBS-College Sports. The match will be aired via tape delay, on CBS-C; on Thurs., Nov. 10 at 6 p.m. Memphis will make the trip to Marshall for a 12 p.m. CST matchup with the Thundering Herd on Sunday.

 

Tigers Tales

Memphis ended the home portion of the 2009 season on a high note, sending its senior class off with a win after outlasting UCF, 3-2, on Sun., Nov. 1. That win snapped a string of five-straight sweeps.

 

The Tigers are led by a pair of young, but talented freshmen in outside hitter Altrese Hawkins and Marija (Maja) Jovanovic. Hawkins leads the team with 286 kills and a .266 hitting percentage. The redshirt freshman hits .259 with 133 kills against C-USA opponents. Since being cleared to play in late September, Jovanovic has been the top attacking option, connecting for a team-best 3.55 kills per set. Memphis has five attackers who are averaging at least 2.00 kills per set.

 

Junior Becky Shaffer leads the Tiger defense with a team and career-high 409 digs. That total is good for eighth-place on the program’s single-season digs top-10 list.

 

Tiger Volleyball Outlasts UCF in Five on Senior Day

UCF (11-15; 3-10 C-USA)           24 25 25 27 15

Memphis (6-22, 2-11 C-USA)      26 21 27 25 17

 

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Senior defensive specialist Rachel Theard made a career and match-high 20 digs and fellow senior Lauren Thompson posted a double-double performance with 12 digs and 13 kills, including the match-clincher, as the Tigers claimed an exciting five-set victory over UCF on Senior Day.

 

Altrese Hawkins and Maja Jovanovic carried the Tiger’s offense with 17 kills each, while the Memphis defense came through in a big way with season-high 18 total blocks. Sophomore Carolyn Baker added nine kills and hit .500. Setter Christine Bach had 57 assists.

 

Baker made three solo blocks and five block assists, while Casey Sines had eight block assists. Bach made five block assists and Jovanovic, who completed a double-double with 10 digs, finished the day with four assisted rejections. Thompson added two block solos and two block assists. Becky Shaffer picked up 18 digs for the Tigers, who out-dug UCF, 78-56 in the contest.

 

Scouting the East Carolina Pirates

ECU is currently 12th in the C-USA standings with a 2-11 mark. The Pirates have lost five-straight to fall to 9-16 overall. Four of those five losses have been sweeps.

 

The Pirates are led offensively by Stephanie Turner’s 221 kills. Turner averages 2.54 kills per set and is among the top servers in the league, with 23 aces. Britney Roper leads the club with 2.55 kills per set. No Pirates hitter hits over .200. Hannah Fenker leads the team with 837 assists.

 

The ECU defense ranks fifth in C-USA in blocking, with 2.18 blocks per set. Briana Fleener ‘s 1.22 blocks per set leads that defensive charge. Kelly Darby ranks in the top-20 in the league with 0.85 blk/s. Fenker, who has eight double-doubles, leads the squad with 187 digs. She is tied with teammate Nicole Jones with 2.12 digs per set. Amanda Lutzow’s 2.41 digs per set average is tops on the team.

 

Last Time vs. ECU

East Carolina (8-10, 1-5 C-USA)     21 14 18

Memphis (4-16, 1-5 C-USA)           25 25 25

 

MEMPHIS, Tenn.–Memphis hit a season-best .400 with 42 kills en route to a sweep of East Carolina in C-USA action on October 9 at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. The win was the second- straight and first in conference action for the Tigers, who improved to 4-16 overall and 1-5 in the league.

 

Memphis was paced by setter Christine Bach and right side hitter Maja Jovanovic. Bach dished out a match-high 39 assists, while Jovanovic connected for 13 kills to lead all players. Bach also served up four aces. Every Memphis attacker that recorded a kill, hit at least .320. Lauren Thompson posted eight kills and led the team with a .571 percentage.

 

Defensively, Memphis posted a plus-10 advantage (29-19) in the digs category. Defensive specialist Rachel Theard picked up a match-best 10 digs.

 

Last Time in Greenville

Memphis (11-5; 2-1 C-USA)           25 25 21 25

East Carolina (11-7; 1-2 C-USA)     23 20 25 23

 

GREENVILLE, N.C.– Memphis’ defense posted 14 total blocks, including 22 block assists to hold East Carolina to just .087 hitting and claim a tough 3-1 win in Conference USA play on Sept. 28, 2008. The Tigers improved to 11-5 overall and 2-1 in league action. ECU fell to 11-7, 1-2 in C-USA play.

 

Memphis hit .206 in the contest and got a match-high 47 assists from setter Laura Côté. Junior outside hitter Lauren Thompson led all players with 14 kills and a .423 attack percentage, while Rebekah Strickland downed 13 kills.

 

Along with the solid block of Strickland and Underwood, Memphis got five blocks from freshman Carolyn Baker and four from Côté. Christine Bach’s 10 digs in the back row was a team high.

 

All-Time Series vs. ECU

Memphis holds a 12-3 advantage over East Carolina in the all-time series after sweeping the Pirates in Memphis in early October. The Tigers won each of the first seven matches before dropping three straight in 2005 and 2006. However, Memphis swept the season series in 2007 and 2008. The Tigers have swept the Pirates each of the last three times the two have matched up in Memphis.

 

Scouting the Marshall Thundering Herd

One of the top teams in C-USA, Marshall boasts the nation’s 44th-best winning percentage at .730. The 19-7 Thundering Herd is 7-5 in C-USA play and 6-1 at home. Their lone home loss was a 3-0 setback to Tulane on October 16.

 

The Herd rank 21st nationally with 14.12 kills per set and 13th with 12.78 assists per set. Their offensive success begins with Preseason All-C-USA setter Elizabeth Fleming. The two-time CUSA Setter of the Week honoree ranks second in C-USA and 26th in the country with 11.08 assists per set. Emily Sullivan is Fleming’s primary attacking option. Sullivan is second in the league and 49th nationally with a potent .355 hitting percentage. She also leads the team with 308 kills.

 

Kristin Marcum and Ryanne Milligan are tied for seventh in the league with 0.27 aces per set. Milligan paces the defense with a club-best 354 digs (3.81 dig/s). Marcum and Katy Schad both average 3.31 digs per set.

 

Last Time vs. Marshall

Marshall (16-4, 4-2 C-USA)      25 25 25

Memphis (4-17, 1-6 C-USA)     19 22 20

 

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Setter Christine Bach handed out a match-high 37 assists and Altrese Hawkins hit .435 with 13 kills, but a third-straight Memphis win was not to be as Marshall cruised to a sweep of the Tigers in C-USA action on October 11. Memphis fell to 4-17, 1-6 in C-USA play, while Marshall improved to 16-4, 4-2 in the league.

 

Memphis won the attacking battle, posting a 42-38 advantage in kills and a 38-36 lead in assists. However, the Tigers struggled at the service line, making 10 serving errors.

 

Led by libero Becky Shaffer’s team-best 14 digs, Memphis registered two more digs than Marshall. The Memphis offense got nine kills from Thompson and eight from Baker and Jovanovic.

 

Marshall was led by Emily Sullivan’s match-high 14 kills and .462 hitting percentage. Setter Elizabeth Fleming dished out 19 assists, while Ryanne Milligan added 14. Libero Katy Schad led all players with 16 digs. Kelley Bugler made a match-best seven total blocks.

 

All-Time Series vs. Marshall

Memphis trails the all-time series with the Thundering Herd with a 2-7 mark. The two programs

split the 2008 series with both teams winning on their home floor. Prior to the Tiger’s 3-0 win in Memphis last year; the U of M had lost six-straight to the Herd. Memphis won the series’ first contest 3-2 back in 2005. The Tigers are 2-3 all-time when playing Marshall in Memphis, but have never won in Huntington in four tries.

 

Tigers on the Tube

Tiger volleyball will make an appearance on TV on November 6, 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. Memphis is 1-2 in TV matches. The Tigers are 1-1 in two contests in the 2006 season. Behind a career-high 24 kills and 18 digs from Sarah Bury, the Tigers battled to a thrilling 3-2 win over Tulsa in the program’s first-ever televised contest on Oct. 13, 2006. Memphis fell to UAB in five in the 2006 C-USA championship bout. The U of M dropped a 3-1 decision to Tulsa in a televised match on Oct., 19, 2008.

 

What’s Next?

Memphis will round out the regular season at UAB on Sat., Nov. 14. First serve is set for 7 p.m.