SMU Volleyball Defeats Memphis
{fshare id=5709}
DALLAS (SMU) – SMU climbed back into the top three in the American Athletic Conference standing with a 3-1 win (25-21, 25-15, 21-25, 25-23) against Memphis Friday night in Moody Coliseum. The win was the 20th of the season for the Mustangs, who improved to 20-5 overall, 9-4 in The American. The Tigers fell to 19-8, 9-4 in The American.
SMU held on at the end of the fourth set to avoid a fifth set, taking a 25-23 victory to win the match. The Tigers scored three straight, tying the score 19-19. Back-to-back attack errors by Memphis gave SMU a 24-22 lead, and after a kill by the Tigers, Janelle Giordano made sure the match didn’t go on any longer, scoring her ninth kill to give SMU the win.
The match featured the league’s top two liberos, who live up to the hype. SMU’s Morgan Heise recorded 31 digs, reaching 30 for the third time this season. League leader Aleksandra Petronijevic finished with 36 digs for Memphis, which finished with 92 to SMU’s 83. The Mustangs had 11.0 blocks, with Kristen Stehling posting six with nine kills, and Giordano recorded five.
Cailin Bula led the Mustangs with 13 kills, and Abbey Bybel finished
with 12 kills and nine digs. Avery Acker tallied 46 assists and 13 digs for her 20th double-double of the season. Caroline Young scored nine kills and 12 digs.
Memphis used a 7-0 run to take a 23-19 lead and won the third set 25-21, avoiding a sweep and extending the match. SMU trailed 7-5, but took a 10-8 lead. The advantage never became greater than three points, and the Tigers fought their way back for the win, hitting .268 while SMU managed just a .087 attack percentage.
The Mustangs held off a late surge by the Tigers to take the first set 25-21. Bula scored the last point with a kill after Memphis scored two straight to get to within three. SMU took a four-point lead to start the match, 10-6, but the Tigers scored the next four to even the score. The Mustangs regained a sizeable advantage, taking a five-point lead with a 5-0 run to break a 12-12 tie, and didn’t let Memphis within three points again. Acker nearly reached a double-double in one set with 12 assists and eight digs.
SMU took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-15 victory in the second set. The Mustangs held Memphis to a -.051 attack percentage, recording 18 digs as a team, including five each from Young, Heise and Julianne Scheidler. With the score tied 9-9, SMU went on a 10-3 run, taking a 19-12 lead. The Tigers scored just three more points. Bula led the offense with four kills.
The Mustangs host Cincinnati Sunday at 1 p.m. in Moody Coliseum. SMU beat the Bearcats 3-1 on Oct. 3 in the first meeting of the season.
