Saturday, Jan. 30

Stephen F. Austin 3, Tulane 1 (25-23, 24-26, 19-25, 19-25)	Box Score
Illinois State 3, Cincinnati 0 (18-25, 21-25, 19-25, 21-25)	Box Score
SMU 3, Rice 0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-20)	Box Score
Temple 3, UConn 1 (17-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-19)
Memphis 3, Louisiana Tech 0 (25-13, 29-27, 25-11)	Box Score
FGCU 3, USF 0 (22-25, 17-25), 21-25)	Box Score
Stephen F. Austin 3, Tulane 0 (16-25, 14-25, 21-25)	Box Score
UCF 3, North Florida 0 (25-22, 25-12, 25-19)	Box Score

Stephen F. Austin 3, Tulane 1; Stephen F. Austin 3, Tulane 0

The Tulane volleyball team (2-3) dropped a pair of matches to SFA (12-4) on Saturday to close the team's opening weekend at home.

"Today was very disappointing," head coach Jim Barnes said. "Every adjustment we made seemed to make things worse. We will watch film all day tomorrow, get back in the gym on Monday and work through this."

The Green Wave fell to the Ladyjacks in a 3-1 battle (25-23, 24-26, 19-25, 19-25) in the first match of the day before taking a 3-0 (16-25, 14-25, 21-25) loss in the second.

Senior outside hitter Lexie Douglas led the way for the Green Wave offensively in both matches in the Hertz Center, recording 15 kills while hitting .205 in match one and 12 kills while hitting .300 in match two.

The Plano, Texas, native also notched a double-double in the three-set match that closed out the weekend, earning 12 digs in addition to her 12 kills.

Also earning a double-double against SFA in the first match of the day was freshman outside hitter Mackenzie Martin, who totaled 10 kills and 11 digs.

Freshman right side hitter Anna Davis also notched double-digit kills in the match, earning 10. Davis also dominated at the net, recording a career-high six blocks.

Junior setter Taylor Henigsman led the Green Wave in assists with 21 in match one, while junior setter Amanda Giardina added 13 in the first match and 12 in the second.

Taking charge of the defense was junior outside hitter Makala Heidelberg, who totaled 18 digs in the four-set match. Heidelberg earned her 1,000th career dig in the 10 a.m. matchup against the Ladyjacks.

Illinois State 3, Cincinnati 0

The University of Cincinnati volleyball team dropped its Saturday match with Illinois State in straight sets, falling 3-0 on Saturday inside Redbird Arena.

Cincinnati (1-1) struggled to get the offense going, hitting .146 for the match and down from its .259 effort in the Friday-night win over ISU. The Redbirds (3-2) hit .234 and held a 9-2 edge in service aces and a 7-3 advantage in blocks.

NOTES
Madison Waters had 11 kills following her dominant performance on Friday and totaled 30 over the two matches. 
Ashley Kozer continued to feed the Bearcats with 31 assists and nine digs. 
Payton Frederick led the team with 19 digs and one ace. 

SET BREAKDOWN

SET 1: ISU, 25-18
UC would battle with the Redbirds, keeping it even through the first half of the set. Illinois State would then take the lead from the Bearcats with a kill by Kaitlyn Prodzinski, tying it up at 8-8. The lead would continue to grow for the Redbirds, completing back-to-back aces, projecting them on a six-point streak. ISU would control the rest of the opener, taking a one-set lead with a set-point kill by Prondzinski. 

SET 2: ISU, 25-21
The second would follow suit, with the score staying balanced between the two teams through the first half. A service ace by Maria Tobergte would shorten the lead by two with a score of 10-12. A block by Dimitra Tziarli would allow UC to briefly hold the lead, 18-17. From there, Illinois State would put together another five-point streak, extending its lead by four. The Redbirds would take the set-point in the form of a UC attack error. 

SET 3: ISU, 25-19
UC took an early lead with a set of kills by Waters, putting the Bearcats up 5-2. Illinois State would soon close the gap, scoring three, including an ace by Kendal Meier. The match would continue to sway back and forth until the Redbirds ran away with four points, extending their lead by six. The Bearcats would continue to battle their way back, only to come up short with a match-point kill by ISU's Sarah Kushner. 

SMU 3, Rice 0

SMU beat Rice 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-20) in a non-conference volleyball match at Moody Coliseum Saturday. The Mustangs, beginning their 25th season of volleyball, swept the two-match series against Rice.

Dating back to Friday's season-opener, the Mustangs (2-0) have now won five straight sets and open the season with back-to-back wins for the second consecutive season.

SMU took control of the match with a massive rally in the second set, rallying from a 20-13 deficit to score eight straight points and eventually win the set 25-23. SMU hit .351 in the second set, which powered its comeback. The Mustangs rode the momentum of the second-set comeback to open the third set with a 10-4 run, winning 22 of the 29 points in that stretch that spanned over two sets.

SMU took the first set 25-20 using a .333 hitting percentage with Jadyn Bauss posting six of her 12 kills in the set. Bauss, who tied Bria' Merchant for the team-high with 11 digs, had her second consecutive double-double.

Lily Heim, who was serving during SMU's 8-point run in the second set, had 34 assists and eight digs, to go along with three kills and a block. SMU had eight blocks, with Alex Glover contributing four and Meryn Kennedy adding three.

The Owls (1-3) were led by Nicole Lennon, who had 22 kills and 10 digs. Hannah Jacobs had the SMU high in kills with 14.

Temple 3, UConn 1

The Temple volleyball team moved to 2-0 on the season with a 3-1 victory over visiting UConn on Saturday at McGonigle Hall. Temple took the match 17-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-19 against their former AAC rival Huskies, who open the season at 0-1.

How It Happened
> Temple dropped the opening set 25-17, but rebounded to win a close set two, 25-23.
> The Owls needed extra points in the third set to prevail 26-14, before sealing the win with a 25-19 set four victory.
> Temple hit .252 in the match, working around 11 UConn blocks.
> The Owls had a 48-43 advantage in digs, while the Huskies had eight aces to Temple's three.

Individual Highlights
> Junior Miray Bolukbasi had another strong performance with 23 kills to go along with eight digs. She hit .333 for the match and added an ace.
> Junior Gem Grimshaw finished with 12 kills and five digs, while classmate Peyton Boyd had 10 kills, hitting a team-best .421.
> Junior Tyler Lindgren dished out 43 assists and added five digs.
> Playing in her first collegiate match, freshman Falanika Danielson finished the day with 25 digs.
> Rounding out the box score, freshman Taylor Davenport notched four kills and a team-high four blocks.

Set One: UConn 25, Temple 17
> Temple couldn't keep the first set tight, as two long runs from UConn put the Huskies in the drivers seat.
> After a 6-6 tie, UConn pushed the lead to 14-9 before a Boyd kill stopped the rally.
> The Huskies pressed on though, opening a 23-16 advantage before back-to-back kills finished out the set.

Set Two: Temple 25, UConn 23
> Temple had the hot hand early in the second set, jumping out to a 9-4 lead on a block from Davenport and Grimshaw.
> The Owls extended that lead to 20-13 on two kills from Bolukbasi, but UConn answered.
> The Huskies cut the Owls' advantage down to just one point at 23-22, using a 9-3 run.
> Temple managed to finish out the set, however, with a Boyd kill providing the final point.

Set Three: Temple 26, UConn 24
> Another set went down to the wire as the Owls grabbed control of the match with a win in extra points.
> A narrow 11-9 UConn lead was erased with a strong Temple serving run, as the Owls went up 17-15.
> Six score ties followed, including as late as 24-24. 
> Temple was able to take a 2-1 lead, however, as strong serves from Lindgren led to a pair of UConn errors as the Owls won 26-24.

Set Four: Temple 25, UConn 19
> Temple took control of the set following a 6-6 tie and finished out their second win of the season.
> A 7-3 run put Temple up 13-9 before UConn got a few back to narrow the gap.
> The Owls pushed forward with another run, but again UConn answered, tying the set at 16-16.
> Temple was ten able to get the final surge it needed, closing out the match on a 9-3 run to win it on a block from Nina-Symone Williams and Boyd.

Memphis 3, Louisiana Tech 0

While the Memphis Tigers weren't as dominant as they were on Friday night, the end result was the same, a three-set victory over the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters. The Tigers cruised through the first set, battled off two set-points in the second set, and dominated in the final set for a 25-13, 29-28, & 25-11 win.

"It's absolutely great to get a win whenever you can, and we did a really good job across the board tonight," said head coach Sean Burdette. "Louisiana Tech came out and made some adjustments that extended things, but at the end of the day, sweeping the weekend is great, especially after dropping the second match last weekend to SIU."

The opening set felt like a continuation of Friday night's victory, as the Tigers never trailed and improved to 3-1 overall on the season. Miaya Smith controlled the offense for Memphis with seven of her match-high 16 kills in the set. The Tigers led 5-3 early in the set and never took their foot off of the gas. A kill from Smith extended the Memphis lead to 16-10, and two 4-0 runs in a span of the next 13 points gave Memphis its fourth consecutive set victory of the weekend, 25-13.

The second set proved to be the most competitive set of the weekend, as the Lady Techsters started with a 5-0 run in search of their first win of the season, but instead fell to 0-7. Louisiana Tech held multiple six-point leads in the set, which included a 14-8 advantage. The Tigers won seven of the next eight points to level the set, which then went back and forth and set up set point for Memphis at 24-23. Louisiana Tech fended off two set points and created two set point opportunities of their own, but service errors at 26-25 and 27-26 kept the Tigers in the set. A kill from Gigi Crescenzo, one of five on the night for the sophomore, completed the Memphis comeback in the set, 29-27.

"We just talked about the comeback in the locker room and it was something special," said Burdette. "Not hitting the panic button and just chipping away, trying to break their serve and pick up a point wherever we could. It really showed some grit with this team. Everyone did their job and found a way to win points when we needed them."

Memphis completed the weekend sweep with a dominating third set, as the 25-11 margin was the largest of the weekend for the Tigers. Memphis took a 4-3 lead on a kill from Jada Birkel and never looked back. A 5-2 run extended the Memphis lead to 10-6, and the Tigers followed that with a 7-1 run. Memphis won eight of the final nine points of the match, as Addyson Huber and Calla Shotwell each picked up their first kill of the night, as Shotwell's kill wrapped up the victory for Memphis, 25-11.

"I'm pleased with our non-conference play, but now it's really like the start of a new season," said Burdette. "We've got to be ready. As we saw in both pairs of our non-conference matches, teams are going to scheme and do things differently. It's how quickly we're able to adjust when we're playing the same team two matches in a row on consecutive days."

FGCU 3, USF 0

The USF women's volleyball team (2-2) fell to defending Atlantic Sun Conference champion FGCU (2-0) in The Corral Saturday as the Eagles claimed a pair of matches against the Bulls on the weekend, also taking a five-setter on Friday.

USF was outhit by FGCU, .327 to .189, as the Eagles posted a 3-0 victory Saturday: 22-25, 17-25, 21-25. Marta Cvitokovic (Rijeka, Croatia) led the Bulls with 17 kills and added nine digs. Makayla Washington (Tallahasee) added seven kills and three blocks. CC Clausen (The Woodlands, Texas) led the Bulls with 11 digs and Masha Idjilov (Moldova) had 31 assists and four service aces.

"I see some great things in our team and I see some things that I know we have worked on that I want to be better," USF head coach Jolene Shepardson said. "I want them to be able to see those things and to execute them consistently. But, there are definitely some highs there. It was a great battle last night and today we didn't come out our finest."

FGCU jumped to an 11-6 lead in the first set. Cvitkovic began to heat up and got a pair of kills to cut the margin to 12-8. A combo block from Washington and Sara Griffith (Chicago) and another Cvitkovic kill made it 12-11.  FGCU ran off four straight points to rebuild a 16-11 lead and USF called timeout. An Idjilov ace cut the margin to two, 22-20, and a Washington block cut it to one, 23-22, but FGCU stabilized and took set one, 25-22.

The Bulls took a 4-3 lead in the second on a Jac St. Cin (St. Petersburg) kill. The teams exchanged side-outs and multiple ties until FGCU ran off five straight points to take a 14-10 lead. The Bulls could not get the lead under three the rest of the way and FGCU took the set, 25-17, hitting .423 in the stanza.

USF led 5-2 in the third set after a Cvitkovic kill, but saw FGCU run off four straight points to take a 6-5 lead. USF responded and took a 9-7 lead off a St. Cin kill, but, out of a timeout, FGCU ran off four straight to take an 11-9 lead. USF responded again, and after another St. Cin kill led, 12-11. USF put together its own 4-0 run fueled by a pair of Cvitkovic kills to take an 18-15 lead, but FGCU responded with five straight points to reestablish its lead, 20-18, and closed out the match with a 25-21 set victory.

UCF 3, North Florida 0

The Knights continued their undefeated start to the season on Saturday as McKenna Melville and company led UCF to a 3-0 sweep over UNF at The Venue in Orlando, Fla.

The Knights made quick work of the Ospreys, needing just one hour and 22 minutes to complete the sweep and move to 2-0 on the young season.

"I really thought the first 10 points of the match were a battle," said UCF head coach Todd Dagenais. "As the game went on, both teams adjusted to the speed of the others offense a little bit more, and I think we did a nice job of that. But UNF didn't quit… They played with a lot of heart and a lot of fire tonight... We had to go out there and really play."

The Ospreys gave UCF a battle in the first set as the two teams tied scores 13 different times and the lead changed hands four times. The Knights finally lept ahead late in the set, 18-17, following a kill from Tali Marmen, and they did not relinquish the lead for the rest of the set, going on to win 25-22.

The Knights really began to find their groove in the second set, winning 25-12 to tie for their largest margin of victory in a set to begin the young season (Set three vs. FAU on Jan. 26). The final set started off close, but UCF slowly began to pull away in the middle, going up 14-11 before UNF called timeout. The stoppage of play would not slow the Knights down as they would go on to expand their lead to 25-19 for the win.

UCF junior McKenna Melville was the key player of the match for the Knights in the win, striking for 20 kills while hitting at a strong .452 percent on the night. Melville was unanimously tabbed the American Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year in early January. In two matches this season, she has 33 kills, 11 digs, five blocks and is hitting at a .385 clip.

The Black and Gold will once again take on UNF at home on Sunday, Jan. 31. The match is set for a 5:00 p.m. start time.

DAGENAIS DIALOUGE:

[On the team]
"We're becoming less tentative; we're taking more courageous shots and we're going out there with conviction. We're not afraid to be blocked."

[On preparing for another match with UNF on Sunday]
"I think we have probably about four or five different ways we can run our offense. There is a lot of different ways, different patterns we can use as the season goes on… We're going to keep testing things. We're still trying to learn ourselves… We'll just look at what they give us and do our best to take what they give us."

[On looking for progress amongst the team]
"You look for little things that don't show up on the stat sheet… There's a bunch of little things that we look for and we look for steadiness or improvement, and I think we are getting more of that. We did some things in the back row passing-wise that set us up nicely. We're going to learn against what teams some things will work and what won't, but it's a game of inches really... I was really proud of how our team adjusted on the fly tonight."