The University of Memphis volleyball team ended their losing streak, winning both home games over the weekend against UConn and Temple. Junior right-side hitter Hannah Flowers was named the AAC Offensive Player of the Week, the league announced Monday.
Game versus UConn
The volleyball team had a surging 3-2 comeback victory Friday over the visitors from Connecticut. Memphis won the match by scores of 17-25, 25-22, 21-25, 25-23 and 15-12.
“It’s great to get a win,” head coach Sean Burdette said. “So much credit needs to go out to, No. 1, the team, them pulling together; secondly, the crowd here was phenomenal.”
Hannah Flowers and Andrea O’Connor were the players of the game against the Huskies. Flowers ended the game with 22 kills and six total blocks, which are both career highs. Coach Burdette spoke on the performance of Flowers in a press release.
“She worked hard tonight, and she made good demands in key situations of getting the ball,” Burdette said. “She put herself in a position to be a leader this week.”
On the other hand, O’Connor ended the game with 11 kills and nine total blocks versus her home-state Huskies. Burdette talked about O’Connor playing against her home state school in a press release.
“It’s something she’s not going to talk about, but for her, she wants to step out every time and do the best she can,” Burdette said.
Game versus Temple
After getting one back in the win column Friday, the Tigers came out Sunday and swept the Temple Owls 3-0 to win their second conference game. Memphis won the match by scores of 25-17, 25-18 and 25-20. Burdette spoke about winning both games from the weekend.
“It’s certainly a great step for us. We lost a couple of five-setters early in conference play,” Burdette said. “We’ve had to battle through that and figure out the little things we needed to do. This weekend showed us what we can do when we put it all together and have complete games.”
Player of the game was the freshman outside-hitter, Anna Hayes. She had her first career double-digit kills match with 11. She also contributed three assists and six digs.
“She’s not only worked hard in practice but has come in on her own. That’s really paid off for her,” Burdette said after Hayes’s performance against Temple.
Flowers was also a key player in the win versus the Owls. She had 14 kills and a career-high hitting percentage of .824, which is the second-highest for a match by an AAC player this season. Flowers has a total of 245 kills this season with a hitting percentage of .326.
Wrap-up
The Tigers will be back on the road this weekend for more conference play action. They will travel to Cincinnati, Ohio Friday to play the Cincinnati Bearcats, who are 15-5 on the season and 7-1 in conference play. Then Sunday, Memphis will then go to Greenville, North Carolina, to play the ECU Pirates, who are 15-6 on the season and 3-5 in conference play.
Hannah Flowers looks to spike the ball against UConn. Memphis defeated UConn and Temple last weekend at home.
Anna Hayes serving the ball. Memphis currently has a 13-7 record.
Pierre Da Silva looking for a teammate to retain possession. Memphis 901 FC lost to Louisville City FC 2-1 in their inaugural season finale. (Frank Ramirez/ Daily Memphian)
