The SMU volleyball team hosts Abilene Christian Friday night at 7 p.m. The contest is the opening match of the SMU DoubleTree Invitational, which also features the Mustangs against LSU Saturday.
SMU enters the tournament with a 2-6 record, but its freshmen continue to gain experience. The Mustangs lost in four sets at TCU. SMU defeated Louisiana in straight sets after a 3-2 loss to Montana State.
Brittany Adams leads the team and ranks sixth in The American with 3.43 kills per set. SMU is second in the league with 2.28 blocks per set, and third with 16.34 digs per set.
Lexi Nordmann is third in the conference with 1.17 blocks per set, while
Meryn Kennedy is eighth with 1.07 per set. In the back row,
Montana Watts is third in the conference with 5.28 digs per set.
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ABOUT SMU
The Mustangs went 21-11 last season, marking the fifth straight year with at least 20 wins. SMU advanced to the NIVC for a third consecutive postseason appearance. With a 15-5 record in the American Athletic Conference, SMU finished tied for second in the league. The Mustangs have been in the top two in each of the five seasons with two championships.
SCOUTING ABILENE CHRISTIAN
Abilene Christian is 3-7 and won a five-set match against Oral Roberts to end a seven-match losing skid. Ketelyn Mueller leads the team with 2.68 kills per set, and Jacey Smith is averaging 2.6 per set with a team-high 109 kills. As a team, the Wildcats are scoring 11.43 kills per set, while opponents are averaging 13.48.
This is the first match between the two programs.
SCOUTING LSU
LSU is 3-6 with two losses against top-25 teams. The Tigers started the season with a 3-1 loss at then-No. 16 Baylor. A 3-0 loss at then-No. 20 Michigan preceded a 3-0 victory at Oakland in LSU's last match. Taylor Bannister leads the team with 4.32 kills per set, and is the only player on the squad averaging more than two kills. The Tigers outscore opponents 12.58-11.58 on the attack, hitting .199.
SMU is 1-1 all-time against LSU. The Mustangs won the first match 3-0 on Nov. 24, 2000. The Tigers came to Dallas and claimed a 3-1 victory on Sept. 18, 2004.
CHASING A MILESTONE
In 23 seasons as the only head coach in program history,
Lisa Seifert has amassed 387 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 79-19 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 189-104 all-time in home matches and 176-100 in matches played at Moody Coliseum. Since the renovation to Moody Coliseum in 2014, SMU is 43-13 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
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 169 assists, 5.83 per set, while Heim, a freshman, has 139 assists, averaging 4.79 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 2,604 assists for her career, eighth all-time at SMU.
ON THE ATTACK
Senior
Brittany Adams leads the Mustangs with 96 kills, ranking sixth in The American with 3.743per set. Freshman
Rachel Woulfe has 67 kills, averaging 2.31 per set. Both players hit above .200, with Adams posting a .219 attack percentage, while Woulfe leads the pin hitters with a .262 hitting percentage. One of three seniors on the roster, Adams leads the team with 356 sets played.
MONTANA WATTS
Montana Watts was named to the all-tournament team at Lipscomb and earned the Best Libero award at the DoubleTree Classic. She is third in The American with 5.28 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 second in the league with 2.28 blocks per set this season. Nordmann is third in the conference with 1.17 per set, while Kennedy is eighth with 1.07 per set.
RECORD-SETTING DAY
SMU set a conference and program record with 23.0 total blocks in a five-set win at Cincinnati. 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.
