The SMU volleyball team plays at Tulsa Friday night and at Wichita State Sunday. Sunday's match will broadcast on the American Digital Network at 1 p.m., while first serve is slated for 7 p.m. Friday.

ABOUT SMU
The Mustangs are 9-14 overall, 6-7 in the American Athletic Conference, but have home victories against Tulsa and Wichita State this season. Brittany Adams leads the team with 2.93 kills per set, ninth in the conference, and freshmen Hannah Jacobs and Rachel Woulfe are also scoring at least two kills per set. SMU has spent most of the season in a 6-2 system, with setters Kendall Patterson and Lily Heim accounting for 10.82 of SMU's 12.11 assists per set.

SMU is second in the conference with 17.24 digs per set, and Montana Watts is third with 5.41 per set. The Mustangs are fourth as a team with 2.13 blocks per set. Meryn Kennedy averages 1.04 blocks per set, while Lexi Nordmann is blocking 1.01 per set. Nordmann also ranks third with a .309 attack percentage.

SCOUTING TULSA
Tulsa is 17-8 overall, 9-4 in The American, winning three straight matches before a loss at Cincinnati. Emily Thorson leads the team with 3.31 kills per set. As a team, Tulsa is scoring 12.78 kills per set with a .201 hitting percentage. Opponents are scoring 12.84 per set, but hitting just .183.

SERIES HISTORY
SMU is 27-18 all-time against Tulsa, including a 3-0 victory at home earlier this season. 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.

SCOUTING WICHITA STATE
Wichita State is 12-12 overall, 7-6 in The American. The Shockers are 5-1 at home this season, and have won three of their last four matches. Megan Taflinger leads the team with 2.99 kills per set, and is one of four attackers scoring at least two per set.

SERIES HISTORY
SMU is 2-4 all-time against Wichita State. The Mustangs won the first meeting, 3-1 on Aug. 31, 1996, at Nevada, and defeated the defending conference champion in five sets at home earlier this season. The first meeting 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. 

chasing a milestone
In 23 seasons as the only head coach in program history, Lisa Seifert has amassed 394 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 85-26 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 195-105 all-time in home matches and 182-101 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 530 assists, 5.82 per set, while Heim, a freshman, has 445 assists, averaging 5.00 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 2,983 assists for her career, seventh all-time at SMU. 

ON THE ATTACK
Senior Brittany Adams leads the Mustangs with 264 kills, 2.93 per set. Freshman Hannah Jacobs has 156 kills and is second on the team with 2.69 per set, while Rachel Woulfe has 177 kills, 2.11 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 and 19th in the NCAA with 5.41 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 fourth in the league with 2.13 blocks per set this season. Kennedy averages 1.04, while Nordmann averages 1.01 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.