Volleyball Announces Hurricane Relief Campaign To Start Friday At DoubleTree Classic

Friday, September 15

Dallas

7 p.m.

SMU

TCU

Volleyball Announces Hurricane Relief Campaign To Start Friday At DoubleTree Classic

Sep 14 | Volleyball

Tournament Notes

SMU Hosts TCU Friday and Arkansas Saturday

SMU (6-3, 0-0 The American) vs. TCU (6-3, 0-0 Big 12)
Date & Time	Friday, Sept. 15 at 7 p.m.
Location	Moody Coliseum – Dallas, Texas
Live Stats	Sidearm Stats
Live Video	PonyUp TV
Tournament Info	Tournament Notes (.pdf)
SMU vs. Arkansas (8-2, 0-0 SEC)
Date & Time	Saturday, Sept. 16 at 3:30 p.m.
Location	Moody Coliseum – Dallas, Texas
Live Stats	Sidearm Stats
Live Video	PonyUp TV
SMU Volleyball on Social Media
Facebook	/SMUMustangs \| /SMUVolleyball
Twitter	@SMUMustangs \| @SMUVolleyball
Instagram	/SMUVolleyball

The SMU volleyball team hosts the SMU DoubleTree Classic, facing TCU Friday at 7 p.m. and Arkansas Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The Mustangs are playing a tournament at home for the second time this season, and are coming off a tournament championship after going 3-0 at the Texas State Creeds and Crests Classic.

ABOUT SMU
The Mustangs are 6-3 after a tournament win in San Marcos, Texas, and have won six of their last seven matches. Lauren Mills leads the team with 128 kills, averaging 3.76 per set, and Brittany Adams has 102 kills this season. The Mustangs lead the American Athletic Conference with 13.76 kills per set. Mills was named tournament MVP at Texas State, and Adams was on the all-tournament team. SMU is holding opponents to a .184 attack percentage, and Montana Watts ranks sixth in The American with 4.82 digs per set. As a team, SMU leads the league with 18.09 digs per set.

RALLY FOR HURRICANE RELIEF
The SMU volleyball program is asking fans to bring items to donate to victims of Hurricane Harvey to each of its next eight home matches. The Mustangs will donate the items to a distribution center in Houston prior to SMU's match at Houston Nov. 3. Requested items include, but are not limited to, new clothes, baby diapers and formula, toiletries, water and non-perishable food items.

ABOUTTCU
The Horned Frogs are 6-3 overall after going 2-2 in their last four matches, with losses at then-No. 15 Florida State and at home against Duke before beating Lehigh and Utah Valley. TCU started the season 4-1, winning its first three matches all in straight sets. Ashleigh Martin leads the team with 91 kills, and is one of four players averaging at least two kills, scoring 2.94 per set.

Series History: The Mustangs are 13-5 all-time against TCU, winning each of the last two, and six of the last eight matches in the series. SMU captured a 3-2 victory Sept. 18, 2015, the last time the two teams squared off in Moody Coliseum. The Mustangs are 7-2 all-time at home against the Horned Frogs.

ABOUT ARKANSAS
The Razorbacks are 8-2, with losses against then-No. 6 Wisconsin and then-No. 19 USC. Victoria Pilar leads the team with 6.43 kills per set, hitting a team-high .348. Three other Razorback attackers average more than two kills per set, and Arkansas scores 14.49 kills per set with a .263 attack percentage. Five Arkansas wins lasted just three sets, while Wisconsin is the only team to sweep the Razorbacks.

Series History: SMU is 1-2 all-time against the Razorbacks. The Mustangs won 3-2 in Fayetteville, Ark., on Sept. 13, 2014, en route to the Arkansas Invitational championship. Arkansas won the first meeting, 3-1, in Dallas Sept. 21, 1996, and claimed a 3-0, neutral-site win Nov. 27, 2004.

BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPS
SMU successfully defended its American Athletic Conference championship, going 18-2 against league opponents. After going 17-3 in 2015 for the program's first title, the Mustangs won 11 of their first 12 conference matches in 2016 and never dropped below at least tied for first all season. For the second straight season, SMU clinched sole possession of the championship with a win at Connecticut (3-1), this time in the last match of the regular season.

AMERICAN SUCCESS
SMU is 64-14 in American Athletic Conference matches since the league's inception four seasons ago. The Mustangs finished runner-up behind champions Louisville and UCF in the first two years before winning back-to-back championships. SMU players have earned 19 all-conference awards, one conference Player of the Year award, one Freshman of the Year award and five yearly awards for position. Lisa Seifert was also named conference Coach of the Year in 2015. With 18 conference wins in 2016, SMU matched the conference record for league wins.

NCAA VICTORY
The Mustangs advanced to the NCAA Tournament, playing in the first round at Texas for the second straight year. SMU swept Texas A&M (25-23, 25-23, 25-18) for its first NCAA victory in the program's first match against the Aggies. Katie Hegarty scored a match-high 14 kills, and Kendall Patterson posted her 12th double-double of the season with 36 assists and 10 digs. The SMU defense held Texas A&M to a .177 attack percentage, recording 10 blocks and 51 digs. SMU was eliminated in the second round by national runner-up No. 4 Texas.

RECEIVING VOTES
SMU received votes in the AVCA Top 25 Coaches Preseason Poll for the first time in program history. The Mustangs first received votes in the top-25 poll on Aug. 30, 2010, and this is the fourth straight season SMU has earned votes in at least one weekly poll.

POSTSEASON AWARDS
Five Mustangs earned All-American Athletic Conference honors, with Katie Hegarty, Janelle Giordano and Morgan Heise named to the first team, while Kendall Patterson and Kristen Stehling earned second-team accolades. Heise earned her third straight conference Libero of the Year award and a selection on the AVCA All-America Honorable Mention list for the second straight season. Hegarty, Heise and Giordano also earned selections to the AVCA All-Region team. Patterson was tabbed as The American's Freshman of the Year.

MOODY MAGIC
The Mustangs are 183-98 all-time in home matches and 173-96 in matches played at Moody Coliseum. Since the renovation to Moody Coliseum in 2014, SMU is 41-7 in home matches over four seasons, including a program-best 15-1 record in Moody in 2014. SMU clinched what at the time was at least a share of its first conference championship with a 3-1 win against Houston in front of its home fans on Nov. 15, 2015. SMU won 12 straight home matches during the 2015 season

TEAM CAPTAINS
Katie Hegarty and Kendall Patterson were selected as team captains for the 2017 season. Team captains are elected by the players. Both players earned all-conference accolades in 2016, and led the team in their respective stat category (kills and assists).

KATIE HEGARTY
Katie Hegarty scored 461 kills last season, the most by an SMU player since Rachel Giubilato finished with a program-record 568 during the 2006 season. Hegarty's 461 kills ranked fifth in the conference last season and is fifth in a season all-time at SMU. She posted the league's first triple-double and the sixth in program history with 22 kills, 12 digs and a career-high 10 blocks against Tulane. The Aztec, N.M., native had four other double-doubles, finishing the season with 197 digs and 97 blocks. The senior started the 2017 season with 21 kills against Mississippi State, has has a team-high 44, averaging 3.67 per set.

KENDALL PATTERSON
Kendall Patterson led the American Athletic Conference with 1,325 assists, averaging 10.95 per set, during her first season on the Hilltop. The league's Freshman of the Year recorded 12 double-doubles, including a career-high 26 digs and 49 assists against Tulane. She finished the year with 308 digs and 42 blocks. Patterson recorded a career-high 54 assists against Cincinnati, and eclipsed 50 three times. She also led the team with 38 service aces. Patterson posted her first double-double of the 2017 campaign with 46 assists and 10 digs in a 3-0 win against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and had 58 assists in a five-set loss against Mississippi State. The sophomore is second in The American with 9.82 assists per set, and has four double-doubles this season.

LAUREN MILLS
Lauren Mills leads the team and ranks fourth in the conference with 3.76 kills per set this season. The senior scored a career-high 27 kills in a 3-1 win against UTSA, matching the SMU single-match record for a four-set match. Her 27 kills is tied for fifth all-time in a match at SMU, and the record is 33, set by Rachel Giubilato on Oct. 3, 2006 against Stephen F. Austin. Mills also had double-doubles against UTSA (27 kills, 13 digs) and Texas State (15 kills, 19 digs), earning tournament MVP honors at Texas State. She has a team-best five double-doubles this season, and is averaging 3.44 digs per set, 12th in the league.

BRITTANY ADAMS
Brittany Adams is second on the team with 102 kills, ranking ninth in the conference with 3.09 per set. She earned her first all-tournament honor at Texas State, matching her career-high with 18 kills against Texas State. She also had 17 digs in one of two double-doubles at the tournament. Adams has four double-doubles this season, and has scored at least 10 kills six times.

BUILDING BLOCKS
SMU features new faces in the middle of the net after the graduation of all-conference middle blockers Janelle Giordano and Kristen Stehling. Giordano finished her career as the all-time leader at SMU with 623 blocks, and Stehling had 89 during her senior season. Junior Kelly Brunstein played in nine sets last year with four blocks. Freshmen Meryn Kennedy and Lexi Nordmann will also compete for playing time. Kennedy was redshirted last season after scoring 194 kills with 135 blocks as a senior at Allen High School. Nordmann was an Under Armour All-America second-team selection as a senior at Dewitt High School in Dewitt, Mich.