Mustangs Play Road Matches At ECU And Cincinnati This Weekend

Friday, October 25

Greenville, N.C.

6 p.m.

SMU

East Carolina

Photo by: Sharon Ellman

Mustangs Play Road Matches At ECU And Cincinnati This Weekend

Oct 24 | Volleyball

SMU Notes

SMU (13-5, 6-2 AAC) at ECU (14-6, 3-5 AAC)
Oct. 25, 2019 – 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT
Greenville, N.C. | Minges Coliseum
Pirates All-Access | Live Stats

SMU at Cincinnati (15-5, 7-1 AAC)
Oct. 27, 2019 – 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT
Cincinnati, Ohio | Fifth Third Arena
Bearcats TV | Live Stats

SMU Social Apps
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
SMU Mobile App
Apple | Google Play

The Mustangs play at ECU Friday at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT. SMU then faces east-division leader Cincinnati on the road Sunday at 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT.

FAMILIAR FACES
• The Mustangs return four of six starters and the libero from last season. Montana Watts became just the second player in program history with at least 600 digs in multiple seasons. Meryn Kennedy led the team with 111 blocks, and setters Lily Heim and Kendall Patterson combined for 12.27 assists per set.

ANOTHER MILESTONE
• Head coach Lisa Seifert earned her 400th win at SMU when the Mustangs defeated Oral Roberts, 3-2, on Sept. 5, 2019. She is just the third SMU head coach to amass 400 wins on the Hilltop, following long-time women's basketball head coach Rhonda Rompola and men's tennis head coach Carl Neufeld, both of whom have since retired.

GAINING MOMENTUM
• In the past 10 seasons, Seifert's teams have won 204 matches, including the program's first NCAA Tournament victory with a 3-0 win against Texas A&M in 2016. The decade includes six 20-win seasons, including a program-record 27 wins in 2015. SMU won back-to-back conference championships in 2015 and 2016, and made three straight postseason appearances.

SMU IN 2019
• SMU is 13-5 overall, 6-2 in The American, with wins in its last six matches. The Mustangs are 5-0 at home in conference matches this season and 8-1 in Moody Colisuem overall. The schedule also includes wins against TCU and Dayton, receiving votes at the time of the match. Hannah Jacobs leads the team with 3.41 kills per set, and is one of three attackers averaging at least three kills per set.

CONFERENCE RANKINGS
• Averaging 14.18 kills per set, SMU ranks second in the American Athletic Conference.
• Hannah Jacobs, fifth-3.41, Mekenzi Heckmann, seventh-3.32, and Rachel Woulfe, 11th-3.03, all rank at the top of the league in kills.
• The Mustangs are second in the league with a .271 attack percentage overall, and rank third against AAC opponents.
• SMU is second, averaging 13.34 assists. Lily Heim is second individually with 11.51.
• SMU leads the AAC in digs with 16.55. Montana Watts is fourth with 4.45 per set.

RECOGNITIONS
• Montana Watts has been named to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll twice this season.
• Lily Heim has been named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll three times this season. Most recently, she earned a mention after averaging 12.00 assists in home sweeps against Temple and UConn. She guided the Mustangs to a .318 attack percentage in the wins.
• Freshman Alex Glover was named to the league's Weekly Honor Roll on Oct. 14 after scoring 23 kills with seven blocks in two home conference wins.

ALL-TIME SERIES
• SMU is 14-5 all-time against ECU.
• SMU is 6-3 on the road against the Pirates, winning five straight before last season.
• Last Meeting - Sept. 30, 2018
SMU lost 3-1 on the road, losing to the Pirates for the first time since a road loss in 2008, ending a 13-match SMU streak.
• SMU is 10-2 all-time against Cincinnati.
• SMU is 4-2 at Cincinnati, losing two of the last three road matches.
• Last Meeting - Sept. 28, 2018
SMU won 3-0 on the road against the Bearcats.

HANNAH JACOBS | SOPHOMORE
Hannah Jacobs leads the team and is fifth in The American with 3.47 kills1per set. She has scored at least 10 kills in 15 of 18 matches this season, with a season-high 19 in a five-set win against Tulsa. She scored 16 in three sets against Bradley, and also had 16 against Stephen F. Austin and at Missouri State. She is hitting .198 with 225 kills. She hit a career-high .600 with 16 kills and only one error in 25 attempts during a 3-0 win at Missouri State. Jacobs was named to the American Athletic Conference All-Preseason team prior to the season.

RACHEL WOULFE | SOPHOMORE
Rachel Woulfe is third on the team with 3.03 kills per set, ranking 11th in The American. She is third on the team with a .299 attack percentage, 10th in the league. In her last three matches, she hit .684, .359, .308, .316 and .438 with 60 kills and just 12 errors. She has scored at least 10 kills 10 times this season, including three of the last five matches. Woulfe scored a season-high 18 against Stephen F. Austin and had 18 in four sets against Memphis. Woulfe hit .500 with 15 kills in a 3-0 win against Dayton, receiving votes at the time. She also has 45 blocks, recording five in a 3-0 win against UTSA. She missed the Oklahoma match due to injury.

MONTANA WATTS | SENIOR
Montana Watts is fourth in The American with 4.45 digs per set. She recorded a season-high 31 digs against Stephen F. Austin, eclipsing 30 for the fifth time in her career. She had 20 in three sets against Bradley, and 19 in a three-set win against [RV] Dayton. She had 23 digs at Houston. Watts has been named to the conference Weekly Honor Roll twice this season, and was honored as the Best Libero at the SMU DoubleTree Invitational after leading the field with 5.36 digs per set. She has at least 10 digs in each of the last 16 matches, and is averaging 4.19 per set in AAC matches.

MAKING HISTORY
Montana Watts finished with 604 digs last season, joining all-time record holder Morgan Heise as the only two players in program history with more that 600 digs in multiple seasons. Heise set the single-season record with 721 in 2015, and holds the top three spots with 626 in 2014 and again in 2016. In four seasons, Heise recorded 2,379 digs. Watts has 1,652 digs through three-plus seasons, ranking fourth at SMU.

LILY HEIM | SOPHOMORE
Lily Heim leads the conference with 11.51 assists per set. After running a 6-2 during her freshman campaign, Heim is guiding the Mustangs to a .271 hitting percentage in the 5-1 offense. She recorded a career-high 55 assists against Stephan F. Austin, and had 54 in a four-set win against Memphis. She has eclipsed 50 in five times this season, and had at least 40 seven times, including four three-set wins. Heim has 11 double-doubles, five in the last nine matches, averaging 2.84 digs per set. She has been named to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll three times this season.

MEKENZI HECKMANN | FRESHMAN
Mekenzi Heckmann is second on the team and is seventh in The American with 3.32 kills per set. She scored a season-high 22 kills at Houston and finished with 20 at Tulane. Heckmann scored 18 kills in three sets against Incarnate Word, and finished with 19 at Oral Roberts. She has scored at least 10 eight times. Against TCU, she served three aces and finished with eight kills, and scored a team-best 17 kills at Oklahoma.

MERYN KENNEDY | JUNIOR
Meryn Kennedy has a team-high 55 blocks, including eight in three sets against UTSA, and again in a sweep against Wichita State. She had five blocks against Stephen F. Austin and again vs Dayton. She scored a season-high 10 kills against Oklahoma, hitting .588, and posted a .583 attack percentage with seven kills and no errors against Incarnate Word. She has three matches with nine kills, and has hit at least .400 eight times. She also ranks tied for third on the team with 13 service aces and has 43 digs. On the attack, Kennedy is hitting a team-best .327 with just under two kills per set.

MAKAYLA MILLER | FRESHMAN
Makayla Miller leads the team and ranks second in The American with 0.21 service aces per set, scoring 18 this season. She has 155 digs, with a season-high 15 in four sets against Memphis. She also recorded 14 in three sets against Bradley and again against Stephen F. Austin. Miller had two of her nine kills against UTSA, and also has 14 assists.

KENDALL PATTERSON | SENIOR
Kendall Patterson is serving as a team captain in her final season on the Hilltop. Named conference Freshman of the Year in 2016 after leading SMU to the league championship, Patterson has been one of the league's top setters since arriving at SMU. After splitting time with Lily Heim last season, the Mustangs have transitioned back to a 5-1 offense. However, Patterson is still a key piece to the gameplan. She has at least 10 digs in six matches, including a team-high 15 in a sweep against TCU. She has 147 digs, averaging 2.19 per set. She also gives SMU a dynamic setting option when Heim is targeted in serve receive or on the attack.

KAYLYN WINKLER | SOPHOMORE
Kaylyn Winkler has has started 10 of 12 matches played this season after transferring from Northeastern. She has 34 blocks, including a season-high five at Oral Roberts and again against Incarnate Word. She had two solo blocks against [RV] Dayton. She has 56 kills after scoring seven at USF. Winkler posted a season-high 12 kills at Oral Roberts. She is hitting .264, seventh in The American, and eclipsed a .500 attack percentage in three matches this season. She also has 11 digs and two assists.

ALEX GLOVER | FRESHMAN
Alex Glover has started each of the past 10 matches, scoring a season-high 16 kills with a .500 attack percentage against Tulsa. She finished with 14 kills against Memphis, hitting .591 with one error. She scored six kills with six blocks as SMU swept TCU. She also scored four kills with five blocks at Oklahoma. The daughter of former NFL tight end Andrew Glover, Alex has 77 kills, scoring 48 in the last six matches. She also has 38 blocks and 12 digs on the season.

JADYN BAUSS | FRESHMAN
Jadyn Bauss has 50 kills in 38 sets played this season. She scored 15 kills in two matches, at home before breaking out with a season-high 13 to lead the Mustangs at USF. Bauss hit .400 against Weber State and .500 as SMU upset [RV] Dayton. She finished with a .385 hitting percentage at USF with only three errors in 26 attempts. Bauss has 67 digs, including a season-high 19 at USF. She also has six assists, six aces and two blocks.