SMU Plays At TCU Thursday To Start Fight In The Fort Tournament

Thursday, September 6

Fort Worth, Texas

7 p.m.

SMU

TCU

SMU Plays At TCU Thursday To Start Fight In The Fort Tournament

Sep 4 | Volleyball

Fight in the Fort
SMU at TCU
Sept. 6 – 7 p.m.
Video: Fox Sports Southwest | Audio
| Live Stats
SMU vs. Montana State
Sept. 7 – 3 p.m.
Live Stats
SMU vs. Louisiana
Sept. 8 – 11 a.m.
Live Stats
The Rickel – Fort Worth, Texas
SMU Notes
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The SMU volleyball team plays at TCU Thursday night on Fox Sports Southwest at 7 p.m. The contest is the opening match of the Fight in the Fort, which also features the Mustangs against Montana State Friday and Louisiana Saturday.

SMU enters the tournament with a 1-4 record, but show vast improvement at home in its second tournament of the season. The Mustangs lost in three sets to No. 15 Creighton, but each of the first two sets needed extra points. SMU defeated Arkansas State in straight sets after a 3-1 loss to NC State.

Brittany Adams leads the team and ranks fourth in The American with 3.71 kills per set. SMU is second in the league and 43rd in the NCAA with 2.59 blocks per set. Meryn Kennedy is fourth in the conference with 1.29 per set, while Lexi Nordmann is fifth with 1.24 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 TCU
The Horned Frogs are 4-3 after starting the season with four home wins. TCU lost all three matches at the Colorado State tournament, which included the Rams and Cincinnati, each currently receiving votes, as well as Florida State. Elan McCall leads the team with 5.24 kills per set, hitting .281, and has 2.28 digs per set. TCU is averaging 13.88 kills per set, while opponents average 11.16.

SMU is 13-6 all-time against TCU, but just 4-3 in Fort Worth. SMU won six of the last nine, including two straight before the Horned Frogs edged out a four-set victory in Dallas last season. Lexi Nordmann matched Lauren Mills with 13 kills to lead SMU in the match, and Kelly Brunstein scored 12 kills with seven blocks.

SCOUTING MONTANA STATE
The Bobcats are 2-4, losing the last three matches in a tournament at Portland. Natalie Passeck leads the team with 2.83 kills per set, and Evi Wilson is scoring 2.83 per set. Opponents are outscoring Montana State 13.39-11.65 on the attack, with the Bobcats hitting just .170.

This is the first meeting between the two programs.

SCOUTING LOUISIANA
The Ragin' Cajuns are 5-2, with both losses coming against American Athletic Conference teams, 3-0 at Tulane and 3-1 at home against Houston. Four of the five wins came in straight sets. Hali Wisnoskie leads the team with 3.65 kills per set, and Louisiana is outscoring opponents 13.48-11.61 on the attack.

This is the first meeting between the two programs.

CHASING A MILESTONE
In 23 seasons as the only head coach in program history, Lisa Seifert has amassed 386 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 92 assists, 5.41 per set, while Heim, a freshman, has 79 assists, averaging 4.65 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 63 kills in the first two weekends, ranking fourth in The American with 3.71 per set. Freshman Rachel Woulfe was just behind Adams with 21 kills, averaging 3.0 per set during the first tournament. Both players hit above .200, with Adams posting a .240 attack percentage. One of three seniors on the roster, Adams leads the team with 344 sets played, and is the only player on the roster with more than 300 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 fourth in The American with 5.12 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 pushed SMU to second in the league with 2.59 blocks per set after recording 35.0 blocks at the DoubleTree Classic, including 14 in three sets against then-No. 15 Creighton.

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.