AMERICAN VOLLEYBALL RELEASE - NOVEMBER 20
TOURNAMENT WEEKEND IS HERE
The seeds are set and the action is ready to begin at the inaugural American Athletic Conference Women’s Volleyball Championship on Nov. 22-24 in Orlando, Florida. No. 6 seed Tulsa and No. 3 seed UCF kick off the tournament on Friday at 3:30 p.m. (ET), with No. 5 Tulane and No. 4 Houston to follow at 6 p.m. The winner of the opening first-round match takes on No. 2 SMU on Saturday at 1 p.m., while the Tulane-Houston victor faces No. 1 seed Cincinnati at 3:30 p.m. The championship match is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Sunday on ESPNU.
JOCKEYING FOR THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
A pair of teams from The American remain in good standing for an at-large bid into the NCAA Championship if they do not happen to lift the hardware at this weekend’s conference tournament. Cincinnati entered the week ranked 25th in the most recent NCAA RPI, while UCF checked in 28th in the second to last RPI of the season. SMU, ranked 53rd in the current RPI, has the opportunity to play itself into at-large range as the second seed at the American Athletic Conference Women’s Volleyball Championship.
THOMPSON HEADLINES AWARD WINNERS
Cincinnati’s Jordan Thompson earned unanimous American Athletic Conference Player of the Year honors for the third time in her career when the season awards were announced on Wednesday. Other major award winners included Tulsa’s Taylor Horsfall as Libero of the Year, SMU’s Lily Heim as Setter of the Year, Tulsa’s Dilara Gedikoglu as Freshman of the Year and Houston’s first-year head coach David Rehr as Coach of the Year.
WHERE THE AMERICAN SITS IN THE NATIONAL RANKS
In the 11th full release of NCAA Division I statistics for the 2019 season on Nov. 17, Houston was slotted second in total team attacks, fifth in team digs, sixth in team kills and team blocks and eighth in assists; Cincinnati ranked first in kills per set and assists per set, fourth in hitting percentage and eighth in aces per set; UCF ranked fourth in total team blocks and sixth in blocks per set; and Tulane was third in total blocks. Individually Cincinnati’s Jordan Thompson was first in points, points per set, kills per set and total kills, ranking second in attacks per set and third in total attacks. Tulsa’s Taylor Horsfall ranked third in total digs, while Houston’s Katie Karbo was fourth in that same statistical category. Cincinnati’s Armania Heckenmueller ranked first and SMU’s Lily Heim sixth in assists per set, while Houston’s Rachel Tullos was first and Tulane’s Kayla Dinkins fourth in total blocks.