After opening home play with a 3-1 record in the Memphis Invitational, the University of Memphis volleyball team prepares for its second straight home tournament, the Tiger Invitational.
Austin Peay, Southern Miss and Mississippi State will join Memphis in the tournament.
The Tigers improved to 7-3 on the year, after impressive performances in the Memphis Invitational. They defeated Arkansas-Pine Bluff 3-0 in devastating fashion (25-8, 25-7, 25-14), before falling to Auburn 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-12). Memphis bounced back to win the final two games of the tournament in a 3-0 victory against Tennessee Tech (25-20, 25-21, 25-21), and a come-from-behind, 3-2 victory over Arkansas Little Rock (22-25, 23-25, 25-21, 25-18, 15-12).
After the comeback win, Coach April Jauregui said she was proud of her team for battling back and happy to finish the tournament on a high note.
“I don’t know if (what I said in the locker room at the break) is TV ready,” she said in a press release. “I just told the team we can’t win anything if we’re not a team and if we’re not together. What I was disappointed in, in those first two sets when we gave up the lead in the first set and then the second set, we just got down and fell apart. I think they showed some great resiliency. We tried to tell them to just take it in chunks, just five points at a time and just muster all the energy they had. It was a long weekend, but to finish with a win makes it all worth it.”
The Tigers’ usual standouts— Summer Morgan, Catlin Lilly, McKenzie Hayes and Oluchi Agomuo—stepped up once again throughout the tournament, but senior libero Lindsey Purvis had her best performance of the year as well.
Purvis spent her first two seasons at MTSU before transferring to Memphis as a redshirt sophomore. The Germantown native racked up 48 digs throughout the Memphis Invitational, including a career-high performance against Arkansas-Little Rock (UALR) with 29 total digs.
Purvis was selected to the all-tournament team for her outstanding play.
Jauregui said it felt very good to win against UALR and attributed Purvis’s play as a big reason behind the victory.
“Lindsey Purvis played phenomenally,” she said. “She really was the backbone and the energy of the team carried us through. We just had to really grit and grind. I mean, I know we’re in Memphis and all, but we just had to fight that thing out. We haven’t beaten UALR in a really long time, so that feels good.”
Morgan also continued her strong play on the year through the Memphis Invitational. The junior middle blocker posted gaudy number throughout the tournament, finishing with a total of 36 kills and 15 blocks.
Morgan, for the second consecutive time this season, was also selected to the all-tournament team.
Lilly, a junior outside hitter, had another strong performance this season, posting 39 kills, 32 digs and 5 blocks in the tournament. Her fantastic play included a double-double performance against UALR, in which she accounted for 11 kills and 17 digs to go along with 4 aces, 2 blocks and 4 assists.
Hayes filled up the stat sheet almost every time she touched the floor throughout the Memphis Invitational. The junior right side finished the tournament with 34 kills, 8 aces, 10 blocks, 26 digs and 3 assists.
Agomuo, a sophomore outside hitter, continued to prove how valuable she is to the Tigers, as well. She finished the tournament with 34 kills, 17 digs and 4 blocks.
Memphis will need strong performances from that core once again if they want to finish on top in their next tournament.
The Tiger Invitational will begin Friday at the Elma Roan Fieldhouse, as Memphis takes on Austin Peay at 7 p.m. Then the Tigers will face a double-header Saturday against Southern Miss at 2 p.m. and Mississippi State at 7 p.m. to end tournament play.
Memphis volleyball will hope to improve on their 7-3 record when they host the Tiger Invitational this weekend.
