The SMU volleyball team hosts Wichita State Friday at 7 p.m. The Mustangs then face Tulsa Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Mustangs Stampede Cancer match. SMU teamed up with the American Cancer Society in an effort to raise funds and awareness for cancer research. 

The volleyball team is auctioning game-worn pink jerseys. Fans can bid online at or donate directly to the American Cancer Society at https://smuathleticsevents.ggo.bid, or participate in the silent auction at the matches on Friday and Sunday. All funds raised go directly to breast cancer research. 

ABOUT SMU
The Mustangs are 6-11 overall and 3-4 in The American, but have a 5-3 record this season in Moody Coliseum, including a loss to then-No. 15 Creighton. The Mustangs are 3-0 in American matches in Moody this season.

Brittany Adams leads the team and ranks ninth in the conference with 2.95 kills per set. Freshman Hannah Jacobs is scoring 2.72 kills per set. Lexi Nordmann is third in the conference with a .330 attack percentage, scoring just under two kills per set. The sophomore also ranks sixth in the conference with 1.06 blocks per set. 

As a team, SMU is third with 2.19 blocks per set. Meryn Kennedy is also in the top 10, ranking eighth with 1.05 blocks per set. The Mustangs are second in the league with 16.83 digs per set, trailing Tulsa. Montana Watts leads the team and is third in the conference with 5.35 digs per set. One of four liberos in the conference with at least five digs per set, the SMU junior trails liberos from Wichita State and Tulsa. 

SCOUTING WICHITA STATE
Wichita State, the defending conference champion, is 9-9 overall, with four losses against top-25 opponents. In conference play, the Shockers have a 4-3 record, including two road losses. Megan Taflinger and Tabitha Brown each lead the team with 199 kills, averaging 3.06 and 2.76 per set. The Shockers and their opponents are both averaging 13.12 kills per set, while Wichita State is hitting .204.  

SERIES HISTORY
SMU is 1-4 all-time against Wichita State. The Mustangs won the first meeting, 3-1 on Aug. 31, 1996, at Nevada. It was the third match of SMU's inaugural season, and Lisa Seifert's first win as a head coach. The Shockers won both matches last season en route to a 20-0 conference record in their first season in The American.

SCOUTING TULSA
Tulsa is 13-6 overalland 5-2 in conference matches. Tulsa has a 2-3 record in away matches, but two of the losses came against ranked opponents. Emily Thorson leads the team with 3.34 kills per set, and Rachel Moore is scoring 2.80 kills per set. As a team, Tulsa is outscoring opponents by a small margin, 12.65-12.55, with a .194 attack percentage. 

SERIES HISTORY
SMU is 26-18 all-time against Tulsa. The two teams split the season series last year, with the road team winning in both matches.  The Mustangs had won six straight in the series before Tulsa earned the road win in the regular-season finale last year. The series started in 1996, and the programs have played at least two matches each year since, except for 2013 when SMU joined The American. Tulsa joined the conference a season later and the rivalry continued. 

CHASING A MILESTONE
In 23 seasons as the only head coach in program history, Lisa Seifert has amassed 391 wins, including 122 over the past five seasons. Seifert earned her first win on Aug. 31, 1996, with a 3-1 victory against Wichita State at Nevada. The match was the third of SMU's inaugural season. Her 100th win came on Sept. 12, 2003, in a 3-1 victory against Stephen F. Austin. It was the fourth of 23 wins that season. A sweep against North Dakota on Sept. 12, 2009, became the program's 200th win, and Seifert got her 300th victory against on Oct. 12, 2014, with a 3-2 win against Tulane. The season started with a record 11-match win streak after an opening loss, propelling the Mustangs to a 26-6 record. She would become the third coach with 400 wins at SMU.

WIN    DATE    OPPONENT    SCORE
1        8/31/96    Wichita State    3-1
100    9/12/03    Stephen F. Austin    3-1
200    9/12/09    North Dakota    3-0
300    10/12/14    Tulane    3-2

2017 ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS
Four Mustangs earned all-conference accolades in 2017, including setter Kendall Patterson, a second straight second-team honor, while Brittany Adams was also named to the second team. Katie Hegarty and Lauren Mills were tabbed for the first team as seniors. Throughout the program's history, 31 players have been honored with 52 all-conference selections, including 25 first-team awards. Through five seasons in the American Athletic Conference, 11 players have earned 23 all-conference selections. 

2018 PRESEASON AWARDS
Brittany Adams and Kendall Patterson were named to the American Athletic Conference Preseason Team. The duo earned all-conference accolades at the end of the 2017 season after leading the Mustangs to a third straight postseason appearance.
Adams, a senior outside hitter, was second on the team with 354 kills as a junior, ranking ninth in The American with 3.19 per set. She also had 311 digs, recording 13 double-doubles. She scored at least 10 kills 21 times, including a career-high 23 kills at Houston. Patterson had 1,216 assists as a sophomore, and was third in the league with 10.05 per set. She posted 14 double-doubles, averaging 2.47 digs per set. She finished with a career-high 60 assists against Temple, and eclipsed 50 assists five times. 

LARGEST CLASS IN HISTORY
Head coach Lisa Seifert signed the programs largest freshman class, adding seven first-year players to the roster. The Mustangs return four starters and the libero from a 21-win squad in 2017, including all-conference award winners Brittany Adams, a senior outside hitter, and Kendall Patterson, a junior setter who was the league's Freshman of the Year in 2016.

No.    NAME    POSITION    HEIGHT
    3    Maddie Pernecky    DS    5-9
    5    Sydney Lobato    S    5-10
    7    Lily Heim    S    6-0
    10    Hannah Jacobs    OH    6-2
    14    Bria' Merchant    DS    5-8
    15    Ryan Palmieri    OH    6-1
    18    Rachel Woulfe    OH    6-2

20-WIN SEASONS
SMU has won at least 20 matches in a season eight times, including each of the last five seasons. The Mustangs won a program-best 27 matches in 2015.

    YEAR    RECORD
    1999    20-13
    2003    23-7
    2010    25-6
    2013    22-9
    2014    26-6
    2015    27-6
    2016    26-8
    2017    21-11

AMERICAN SUCCESS
SMU is 82-23 in American Athletic Conference matches since the league's inception five seasons ago. The Mustangs finished runner-up behind champions Louisville and UCF in the first two years before winning back-to-back championships. The Mustangs have finished in the top two of The American all five seasons.

MOODY MAGIC
The Mustangs are 193-105 all-time in home matches and 180-101 in matches played at Moody Coliseum. Since the renovation to Moody Coliseum in 2014, SMU is 49-17 in home matches over five 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
Kendall Patterson and Kelly Brunstein were selected as team captains for the 2018 season. Team captains are elected by the players. Patterson was a team captain last season, and has earned all-conference honors each of her first two seasons. Brunstein was third on the team in kills with 106 as a junior, and second with 104 blocks. 

AVCA TEAM ACADEMIC AWARD
The SMU volleyball team earned the AVCA Team Academic Award for the sixth time in seven years, helping the organization to another record high. SMU is one of 164 Division I women's programs to achieve the honor, and 973 programs overall, increasing from 835 last year. The award, which was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that maintained at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale or a 4.10 cumulative team GPA on a 5.0 scale.

SETTING THE SCENE
Lily Heim and two-time all-conference selection Kendall Patterson split the setting duties for the SMU offense in the 6-2 system. Patterson leads the way with 403 assists, ranking 10th in The American with 6.11 per set, while Heim, a freshman, has 301 assists, averaging 4.70 per set. In 2017, Patterson was third in The American with 10.05 assists. She led the league as a freshman with 10.95 assists, and now has 2,944 assists for her career, seventh all-time at SMU. 

ON THE ATTACK
Senior Brittany Adams leads the Mustangs with 192 kills, ranking ninth in The American with 2.95 per set. Freshman Hannah Jacobs has 106 kills and is second on the team with 2.72 per set, while Rachel Woulfe has 113 kills, 1.92 per set.

MONTANA WATTS
Montana Watts was named to the all-tournament team at Lipscomb and earned the Best Libero award at the DoubleTree Classic and the DoubleTree Invitational. She is third in The American with 5.35 digs per set. She ranked fourth in The American with 5.03 digs per set last season. As a team, SMU led the league in 2017 with 17.93 digs per set and limited opponents to a .190 attack percentage. 

ABOVE THE NET
In 2017, three Mustangs ranked in the top 15 of the conference in blocks, including freshmen Meryn Kennedy and Lexi Nordmann. Nordmann led the team and was third in the league with 1.15 per set, posting 85 in 74 sets as a true freshman. Redshirt-freshman Meryn Kennedy led the team with 112 blocks, averaging 1.08 to rank ninth in the league. Kelly Brunstein was 13th, averaging 0.94 with 104 blocks at middle blocker and on the right side. The trio has SMU third in the league with 2.19 blocks per set this season. Nordmann is sixth in the conference with 1.06 per set, while Kennedy is eighth, averaging 1.05 per set.

RECORD-SETTING DAY
SMU set a conference and program record with 23.0 total blocks in a five-set win at Cincinnati in 2017. Freshman Meryn Kennedy led the defense with 12 blocks (1 BS, 11 BA), and junior Kelly Brunstein posted 10 (5 BS, 5 BA), both career highs.