2019 AMERICAN VOLLEYBALL RELEASE - September 24
CONFERENCE PLAY BEGINS THIS WEEKEND
American Athletic Conference play begins this weekend with 12 matches spread across Friday and Sunday. Both USF (at Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday) and East Carolina (versus Campbell on Wednesday) are slated to wrap up nonconference play prior to the official opening of the conference slate.
RECORD MEMPHIS RUN COMES TO AN END
Memphis established a program record by racing out to an 11-0 start to the 2019 season, winning its first two matches of the Beale Street Challenge to surpass the 10-0 mark set by the 2001 Tigers. Despite falling in the final match of the tournament, Memphis remains atop the standings in the West Division of The American at 11-1 entering conference play.
EAST CAROLINA ON A ROLL
East Carolina fashioned a 3-0 mark last week to extend its current winning streak to seven games, which is tops in the conference as of Sept. 23. The Pirates have vaulted into the top spot of the East Division of The American with an 11-1 mark prior to a nonconference matchup with Campbell on Wednesday.
THOMPSON GOES OVER 40 KILLS VS. NO. 25 UL
Despite falling to No. 25 Louisville in five sets on Sept. 22, Cincinnati’s Jordan Thompson put forth one of the offensive performances of the year by a conference hitter. The American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week totaled a league season-high 41 kills to go along with nine digs in the thriller with the ranked Cardinals. It was the second 40-kill match of Thompson’s career, just shy of her conference record of 44 against Wichita State on Oct. 14, 2018.
WHERE THE AMERICAN SITS IN THE NATIONAL RANKS
In the third full release of NCAA Division I statistics for the 2019 season on Sept. 23, Houston was slotted first in team kills, total team attacks and team assists, and second in team digs; UCF ranked second in total team blocks and sixth in blocks per set; Memphis ranked seventh in service aces per set; and SMU was fourth in assists per set and sixth in kills per set. Individually Cincinnati’s Jordan Thompson was first in points and total kills, ranking second in points per set and third in kills per set. Houston’s Abby Irvine was the national leader in total assists, and teammate Katie Karbo ranked second in total digs.