The University of Memphis volleyball team looks to earn its first tournament title of the season as it hosts the Memphis Invitational.
The Tigers, currently sitting at 4-2 on the season, will join Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Auburn, Tennessee Tech and Arkansas-Little Rock, who finished the 2014 season ranked no. 24, in the tournament.
Memphis placed second in its first two tournaments this season, including a 2-1 record in the Belmont Bruiser Showcase. The Tigers posted a 3-1 victory over UTEP (25-12, 18-25, 25-18, 25-16) and swept South Alabama 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-20), before falling to host Belmont 3-2 (25-23, 15-25, 15-25, 26-24, 15-12).
Coach April Jauregui said by the numbers it seems as if the Tigers played well enough to come away with the victory, but gives Belmont credit for winning the tournament.
“It was a match that, after looking at the stat sheet, is hard to comprehend the loss when we had such great things going our way,” she said in a press release. “However, give credit to Belmont for not backing down. They continued to play aggressive and willed themselves to the win.”
Jauregui said even though her team played well, there is still plenty to build on and her team can learn from the loss.
“We did some amazing things throughout the weekend, “she said. We probably had the best offensive performance today in quite some time. But, we had some tentative moments and played it ‘safe’ when the match got close. We’ll play more matches like we did today later this season. If we can learn from it now, it will pay off for us down the road.”
Memphis combined for a total of 160 kills, 145 assists and a .308 hitting percentage, while only allowing 38 errors throughout the tournament.
The Tigers had plenty of individual standouts throughout the Bruiser Showcase, but none more impressive than outside hitter Caitlin Lilly. The junior accounted for 51 kills, eight aces and four blocks over the three-game tournament. After her impressive performance throughout the tournament, the American Athletic Conference named Lilly to its weekly honor roll.
Not only did her strong play push Lilly to the 600-career kill mark, but she now leads the team in service aces at 14 on the year, as well as 3.67 kills per set and 4.48 points a set.
Arkansas transfer Summer Morgan also had an impressive tournament. The junior middle blocker racked up 27 kills and 15 blocks in the tournament, including an 11-kill, nine-block performance in the loss to Belmont.
Another Tiger who preformed exceptionally well in Nashville, junior right side McKenzie Hayes, posted 29 kills and six blocks in three games.
Jauregui said she enjoys watching her team improve as the season moves forward and attributes their success to multiple individuals stepping up each time they take the floor.
“It is nice to see us continue to improve each set and every match,” Jauregui said. “We have had players step up in their roles and that only brings more confidence in our substitutions and our system. Our goal is to focus on the process and continue to improve every time we step on the court.”
The Memphis Invitational begins Friday at Elma Roane Fieldhouse. The Tigers will host their home opener against Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 2 p.m., before taking on Auburn that night at 7 p.m. Then Memphis will continue tournament play Saturday at noon against Tennessee Tech, before finishing up the tournament against Arkansas-Little Rock at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Admission is free of charge to all of Memphis’s home volleyball matches.
Tiger volleyball returns for their home opener this weekend when they host the Memphis Invitational.
