Friday, March 12

Houston 3, Memphis 2 (22-25, 25-27, 25-18, 25-23, 17-15)	Box Score
UCF 3, Cincinnati 0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-17)	Box Score
Tulane 3, Wichita State 1 (27-25, 23-25, 25-20, 25-16)	Box Score
SMU 3, Tulsa 0 (25-22, 30-28, 25-18)	Box Score
East Carolina 3, Temple 0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-20)	Box Score

Houston 3, Memphis 2

After trailing by two sets in the match, the University of Houston Volleyball team stormed back to reverse sweep Memphis in five sets (22-25, 25-27, 25-16, 25-23, 17-15) on Friday night inside the Fertitta Center.
 
With the win, the Cougars (11-2, 7-0 AAC) remain the only undefeated team in the American Athletic Conference West Divison and own the most league victories amongst the entire conference. This is the second time in as many years Houston has started conference 7-0. Houston has now won five of its last six contests with the Tigers (5-6, 2-5 AAC), includinig four in a row.
 
Houston's defense is what fueled the comeback, as the Cougars totaled a season-high 90 digs in the match. Spearheaded by junior Torie Frederick's match-high 29 digs, the Cougars saw four different players surpassed the double-digit dig mark.
 
Sophomore Abbie Jackson (17) and freshman Sarah Martinez (20) each tallied a career-high in digs, while senior Abby Irivine's 14 digs marked a season-best. Jackson also funneled 26 kills to complete her third double-double of the season and seventh of her career.
 
Set 1
After both teams battled it out to start the match, Houston opened a five-point lead at the 15-10 mark.
The Tigers then fought back to tie it at 18, courtesy of an 8-3 run.
Houston held a 22-21 lead, but Memphis responded by scoring the final four points to win 25-22 and take a 1-0 match lead.
Set 2
Houston held a steady lead for much of the set, but Memphis never went away, tying the score twice in the frame.
The Cougars found themselves with the chance to tie the match, but the Tigers scored four of the final five points to win 27-25 and claim a 2-0 match advantage.
Set 3
Once the Cougars opened up an eight-point advantage at 18-10, Houston never looked back, cruising to the 25-17 win to force a fourth set.
Set 4
In a tightly contested battle that saw a total of 14 ties, neither team was willing to give in, as no side held a lead larger than three points.
After a block at the net from Kendall Haywood and Rachel Tullos tied the score at 21, Memphis was forced to call a timeout.
Down the stretch, Irvine went to the service line and recorded an ace to give Houston the 25-23 set win and force a decisive set.
Set 5
After trailing 9-3, the Cougars found themselves in a deficit they never backed down from, as a 9-3 run of their own tied the score at 12.
With the scored knotted at 13, the Cougars found one last run in them, scoring four of the final six points to win 17-15 and cement the 3-2, comeback match victory.

UCF 3, Cincinnati 0

The UCF volleyball team took sole possession of first place in the American Athletic conference East Division with a convincing 3-0 sweep over conference rivals Cincinnati Friday afternoon in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Knights won every set by a margin of at least eight points. The sweep marked the Knights' first over the Bearcats since November 3, 2017 and moved UCF to 11-1 on the year and 5-0 in conference play. The loss bumped Cincinnati down to second place in the East division standings as they now hold a 4-1 record in conference play.

"We just stayed in rhythm all game," said head coach Todd Dagenais. "It reflects the kind of week we had in practice… and I was just really happy to see the team carry that over to this match."

The win also marked the Knights' seventh sweep of the season. UCF has only dropped seven out of 40 sets in 2020-21 and only four sets in their victories.

The UCF offense was firing on all cylinders in the contest as the Knights hit .425 as a team, their highest hitting percentage in a match this season.

Coach Dagenais also spread the ball around as five different Knights had at least six kills in the match in McKenna Melville (13), Nerissa Moravec (7), MaKenzie Chambers (7), Tali Marmen (6) and Anne-Marie Watson (6).

"We really feel like we had our most mature match, especially our right-side hitters. They went out and did their job. They want up and got the kills, got the blocks, forced errors, they didn't make plays that were out of our system," said Dagenais. "They just really played steady and mature and I thought that showed in their statistics.

"We just have to come in tomorrow with that same business-like attitude and know we just have to be who we are going to be and make adjustments as we have to."

The Knights will play one more at Cincinnati on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
 
DAGENAIS DIALOUGE:
[On taking first place in the conference]:
"This was only match number five of an eight-match conference season. All today's win does is give us a chance tomorrow to take another step toward our goals. We look at this as really halftime of a bigger match, and we'll make our halftime adjustments and come out even stronger in the second half."

[On the offensive efficiency and spreading the ball around]:
"The setters were doing a fantastic job of setting where there were as few blockers at the net as possible… Five of our six hitters really posted big-time numbers today, and it would have been six out of six, but we just couldn't get the ball to Kathryn [Wesolich] as much as we wanted to, but she showed out in other areas of the game like she always does… For us to go out and have balanced numbers through five different attackers, not many teams can do that."

Tulane 3, Wichita State 1

The Tulane volleyball team (6-8, 4-3 AAC) recorded a four-set win over Wichita State (8-4, 3-4 AAC) on Friday in the Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse, moving to second place in the American Athletic Conference West Division ahead of Saturday's matchup against the Shockers.

"We had a great night offensively," head coach Jim Barnes said. "Taylor [Henigsman] did a great job running our new 5-1 offense. Both freshmen, Anna [Davis] and Mackenzie [Martin] hit incredible numbers. The level of play from both teams was very impressive. We know how important this series is and tomorrow's match could determine who makes the conference tournament."

The Olive and Blue hit .358 in the match — the team's highest attacking percentage this season — while also totaling 63 kills, 57 digs and seven blocks.

Senior outside hitter Lexie Douglas led the way for the Green Wave in the four-set victory, recording 18 kills while adding five digs and four blocks. 

Freshman outside hitter Mackenzie Martin, freshman middle hitter Anna Davis and junior middle hitter Kayla Dinkins also shined offensively and added double-digit kills in the win, totaling 14 (.419), 11 (.625) and 10 (.350), respectively. Junior right side hitter Yvette Burcescu also added nine kills while hitting .450.

Martin notched a double-double in the match, adding 12 digs to her 14 kills. Freshman libero Sophia Ervanian totaled 21 digs in four sets of action.

Junior setter Taylor Henigsman was impressive up front on Friday, earning a career-high 54 assists while also adding four digs.

The Green Wave were off to a hot start in the match, jumping out to a 6-1 lead before the Shockers came back to tie it up at 9-9. Both teams battled back and forth before a 3-0 Tulane run put the home team ahead, 19-16, and forced a Wichita State timeout. A kill from Dinkins and a service ace from Douglas put Tulane ahead at 25-24 before a Shockers block tied the set at 25-25. A kill from Martin put the Olive and Blue at set point before a WSU ball handling error finished it out in favor of the Green Wave, 27-25.

Wichita State was ahead 9-3 early in the second set, staying on top until a 5-0 Green Wave run tied the match at 20-20. Tulane hit .464 as a team in the set but was unable to pull off the win, as the Shockers held onto their lead and closed it out with a kill at 25-23 to even the match at 1-1.

The third set was a back-and-forth battle from the start before a 3-0 Green Wave run gave the home team a five-point lead at 11-6. The Shockers came within one at 15-14 but Tulane was able to hold onto its lead as a 4-0 run closed it out for the Olive and Blue at 25-20 and gave the team a 2-1 match advantage.

Tulane came out swinging in the fourth set, taking a five-point lead at 10-5 and ultimately holding onto it to close out the set and solidify the win. Kills from Douglas, Burcescu and Dinkins sent the Green Wave on a 5-1 run to make it 16-10, with the Olive and Blue keeping their momentum going until a kill from Douglas put the team at match point and a block from Dinkins and Douglas finished it off at 25-16.

The Green Wave will be back in action on Saturday as they welcome Wichita State at 1 p.m. for a second match this weekend at the Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.

SMU 3, Tulsa 0

SMU swept Tulsa 3-0 on Friday evening inside Moody Coliseum. The Mustangs (7-4, 3-4 AAC) were paced by Hannah Jacobs who finished with 19 kills. Jacobs also matched her single-game high with three blocks on the night. Jadyn Bauss and Bria' Merchant led the defense with 21 and 12 digs, respectively. Kaylyn Winkler finished with a team-high four block assists as SMU totaled 10 in the match. Lily Heim dished out 44 assists.
 
Tulsa (2-5, 2-5 AAC) opened the match with four straight points. Jacobs later had three consecutive kills to give SMU its first lead (11-9). The Mustangs held this advantage and found set point leading 24-16, but Tulsa rallied with a 6-0 run to cut the lead down to just two. Jacobs secured the set victory with a big swing and kill to give SMU the set win.
 
SMU carried this momentum and grabbed a 9-4 lead in the second set. The Mustangs held this lead until the Golden Hurricane inched their way back into the match, to make it a 19-19 set. Both teams fought down the stretch securing nine more ties, but two points from the service line including an ace by Merchant, lifted SMU to a 2-0 advantage.
 
Tulsa and SMU were in a stalemate for most of the third set. The Golden Hurricane went up 18-17 after an attack error by the Mustangs. SMU turned things around in a hurry and eventually swung the momentum in favor of the Mustangs, to take the final eight points and complete the sweep.
 
Maggie Hembree led Tulsa with 13 kills, while Aysu Dalogullari notched 19 digs on the night.

East Carolina 3, Temple 0

East Carolina limited Temple to a .094 hitting percentage and racked up 73 digs on the way to a 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-20) American Athletic Conference victory Friday evening inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
 
The Pirates (3-6, 1-6 AAC) snagged their first league win of the year while the Owls (7-5, 1-4 AAC) lost their third-straight AAC affair.
 
Senior right side Bri reached a career milestone in the contest, notching her 1,000th kill in the third set. She was one of three ECU players to reach double figures as junior outside hitter Natalie Tyson turned in 14 kills and freshman outside hitter Sania Mccoy produced a personal-best 10. Wood finished with 11 kills and 14 digs for her seventh double-double of the season. Tyson also recorded a double-double, adding 10 digs, while both Pirate setters joined the double-double club as well. Senior Alisi Motu'apuaka ended up with 12 assists and 16 digs to complement a 13-assist, 13-dig performance from junior Janiece Jefferies. Senior libero Camryn Allen also chipped in with 15 digs of her own.
 
Gem Grimshaw paced Temple with 14 kills and 11 digs while setter Tyler Lindgren tallied a double-double of 26 assists and 13 digs.
 
East Carolina out-hit its guests .204-.094 on the strength of 45 kills on 137 attempts with 17 errors. The Owls committed 21 attack errors on 138 swings, collecting 34 kills. Defensively, the Pirates were all over the floor, posting the second-highest dig total of the campaign. Temple did not do too poorly itself, grabbing 64 digs with four players in double figures. The teams also combined for nine blocks.
 
In the first set, ECU took advantage of a number of offensive miscues by the Owls to race out in front 6-2. Temple rallied to take a 13-12 advantage on the back of a Grimshaw kill, but the Pirates reeled off six of the next nine points to force the Owls into a timeout. Temple got within 21-19 before East Carolina ended the frame on a 4-1 run.
 
The sides battled to a tie at five apiece in the second stanza before a Tyson kill sparked a 6-4 Pirate spurt that propelled the Purple and Gold to an 11-9 edge. The lead grew all the way to 18-14 when Tyson put down consecutive kills but the Owls notched two straight to cut their deficit to a pair and prompt an ECU timeout. Temple managed one last push, eventually tying things at 22 via a Taylor Davenport kill. However, two Owl attack errors and an Allen ace were the last words as the Pirates entered the intermission up two sets to none.
 
It was all East Carolina early in the third frame. Before Temple could blink, a kill by Mccoy had the Pirates ahead 12-6. The Owls burned a timeout in order to regroup, but Mccoy kept it going with another kill out of the break as ECU continued to pull away. The Pirates looked poised to finish things off emphatically, leading 20-11 thanks to a kill by senior outside hitter Sydney Kleinman. However, Temple scored six straight to tighten up the score before East Carolina settled in and eventually finished the match off with a block.