2019 AMERICAN VOLLEYBALL RELEASE - OCTOBER 29
DIVISION RACES TIGHTENING UP
Cincinnati and Houston each remained atop their respective divisions of the American Athletic Conference following week five of league play. Cincinnati rolled past both Memphis and SMU in three sets to improve to 9-1 in the East Division, and Houston split road matches at UCF and USF to keep hold of the West Division at 8-2. Cincinnati holds a tiebreaker over UCF (9-1) in the East Division, while Houston remains a full game up on SMU (7-3) in the West Division.
TULANE REMAINS UNBREAKABLE IN THREE SETS
Thanks to a sweep of USF last Friday night in Tampa, Florida, Tulane improved to 8-0 in three-set matches thus far in 2019. In fact, the Green Wave remains the only team in The American yet to be swept this season after the squad’s first 23 starts.
COMEBACK KIDS OF HOUSTON DO IT AGAIN
As it has done so comfortably throughout the season, Houston battled back to a fifth set on Sunday at USF and came away with a come-from-behind victory over the Bulls. Not only did the win improve the Cougars to 8-4 in five-set contests this season, it marked the seventh time that Houston had trailed facing a deciding set only to erase the deficit and win in the fifth frame.
TOURNAMENT ON THE HORIZON
With less than one month remaining until the inaugural American Athletic Conference Volleyball Championship on Nov. 22-24 in Orlando, Florida, a total of ten teams remain within three matches of qualifying for the six-squad field.
WHERE THE AMERICAN SITS IN THE NATIONAL RANKS
In the eighth full release of NCAA Division I statistics for the 2019 season on Oct. 27, Houston was slotted second in total team attacks, third in team digs, fourth in team kills and assists and sixth in team blocks; Cincinnati ranked second in assists per set and kills per set, sixth in aces per set and eighth in hitting percentage; UCF ranked fifth in total team blocks and seventh in blocks per set; and Tulane was seventh in total blocks. Individually Cincinnati’s Jordan Thompson was first in points, points per set, kills per set and total kills, ranking third in attacks per set and sixth in total attacks. Houston’s Katie Karbo was third in total digs, with Tulsa’s Taylor Horsfall fifth in that same statistical category. Cincinnati’s Armania Heckenmueller ranked first and SMU’s Lily Heim fifth in assists per set, while Houston’s Rachel Tullos was third and Tulane’s Kayla Dinkins fourth in total blocks.