(RV) SMU (24-6; 17-1 AAC) at Temple (17-13; 7-11 AAC)
Wednesday, Nov. 22 I 10:30 a.m. CT I Watch I Live Stats
McGonigle Hall- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 
Match Notes (PDF)
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SETTING THE SCENE
-SMU closes out American Athletic Conference play with a road test at Temple. 
-First serve is set for 10:30 a.m. CT.
-Wednesday's match will be streamed on ESPN+, with live stats accessible on SMUMustangs.com.

 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS
-SMU volleyball swept North Texas 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 27-25) to clinch the outright American Athletic Conference Championship on Nov. 18 in Moody Coliseum. The Mustangs (24-6, 17-1 AAC) claimed the conference's automatic NCAA Tournament bid with Friday's victory over UNT.   
-SMU claimed its third conference title and first since the 2016 season.

A LOOK AT THE OPPONENT
Temple 
Temple is 17-13 overall and 7-11 in league play. The Owls are fourth place in the East Division. Temple enters Wednesday's contest after dropping two straight matches at Memphis.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Temple (10-7)
Wednesday's matchup will be the 18th all-time meeting between the Mustangs and the Owls. SMU has won the last six meetings dating back to the 2018 season. 

AAC'S BEST
SMU senior outside hitter Naya Shime and graduate middle blocker Emma Clothier were named the American Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, the league announced Monday. 

Shime was crowned the Offensive Player of the Week after posting double-digit kills in both of SMU's sweeps of North Texas. The senior outside hitter tallied her third double-double of the season with 13 kills on .611 hitting and 11 digs on Saturday. Shime added two aces, a block, and an assist. Shime finished with 10 kills, eight digs, an ace, and an assist in Friday's victory.

Clothier led SMU in kills with 12 on .611 hitting in Friday's sweep of North Texas. She reached at least 12 kills on .500 hitting for the seventh time this season. The graduate middle blocker added five blocks, marking the 10th time she's turned in five-plus blocks this season. She passed out two assists and notched a pair of digs. Clothier finished with seven kills, two blocks, and a dig on Saturday.

MUSTANGS AAC ACCOLADES
Sept. 11
Emma Clothier- Weekly Honor Roll
Sept. 18
Jamison Wheeler- Weekly Honor Roll
Sept. 25
Emma Clothier- Offensive Player of the Week
Oct. 9
Jamison Wheeler- Offensive Player of the Week
Sina Uluave- Defensive Player of the Week
Oct. 16
Jamison Wheeler- Offensive Player of the Week
Alex Glover- Defensive Player of the Week
Oct. 23
Jamison Wheeler- Offensive Player of the Week
Oct. 30
Emma Clothier- Weekly Honor Roll
Nov. 6
Sina Uluave- Defensive Player of the Week
Naya Shime- Weekly Honor Roll
Nov. 13
Jamison Wheeler- Weekly Honor Roll
Nov. 20
Emma Clothier- Defensive Player of the Week
Naya Shime- Offensive Player of the Week

UP TO THIS POINT 
-The Mustangs are 24-6 overall and are 17-1 in league play. SMU has swept its last eight opponents and is riding a 14-match win streak. 
-SMU started AAC play with a dominating sweep over Memphis. SMU then defeated UTSA in back-to-back matches. SMU picked up a 3-1 victory before finishing off the weekend with a sweep of the Roadrunners. 
-SMU then split its matches against Wichita State. The Mustangs swept the Shockers before falling in four sets on Sunday.  
-SMU picked up back-to-back road victories against Charlotte and FAU. SMU swept the 49ers on Oct. 6 before taking down the Owls in four sets on Oct. 8. 
-SMU dominated Tulsa in back-to-back matches. SMU swept the Golden Hurricane twice, holding them to below. 200 hitting on Friday and under .050 hitting Saturday.  
-SMU claimed sole possession of first place in the AAC standings following back-to-back wins over Rice. The Mustangs defeated the Owls in four sets on Friday, before finishing off the weekend with a five-set victory. 
-SMU swept UAB and USF in back-to-back matches in Moody Coliseum on Oct. 27 and 29th.
-SMU defeated East Carolina on Nov. 3 before picking up two more sweeps at Tulane on Nov. 10th and 12th. 
-SMU clinched the outright conference title with two straight sweeps of North Texas on Nov. 17 and 18th. Two days later, SMU took down Pepperdine match in its home finale. 
-SMU opened its 2023 campaign at the Ameritas Players Challenge hosted by the University of Nebraska. SMU picked up a dominating sweep over Lipscomb to start off the season. SMU fell in a hard-fought match to Utah State 3-1, and was swept by Nebraska in the tournament finale. 
-Next, SMU swept Florida State to kick off the Seminole Invitational. SMU dropped a hard-fought contest against Auburn 3-1 the next day.
-SMU defeated No. 14 Baylor 3-2 in its home opener. The victory marked the Mustangs' highest-ranked victory in program history. 
-From there, SMU dropped back-to-back matches at the Stacey Clark Classic against then-20th-ranked Purdue and then-No. 21 Houston 3-1, respectively. 
-SMU closed out its non-conference slate with three straight wins at the DoubleTree Invitational. The Mustangs beat Texas Tech in five sets to open the tournament. The Mustangs took down Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3-1 the next day before closing out their non-conference slate with a sweep of LSU.

LAST TIME OUT 
SMU volleyball picked up a 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, ) sweep of Pepperdine on Monday night in the final regular season match in Moody Coliseum. (RV) SMU finished its 2023 campaign 13-1 in at home. The Mustangs won their 14th straight match and earned their eighth consecutive sweep and 17th of the season.

NATIONAL RECOGNITION 
-Graduate middle blocker Emma Clothier was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I National Player of the Week, the organization announced on Sept. 26. Clothier was the second Mustang to receive National Player of the Week honors in program history. She earned the honor after starting league play hitting .800 with 12 kills in SMU's sweep over Memphis. Clothier tallied 17 kills on .576 hitting, and 13 kills on .500 hitting in back-to-back matches at UTSA. 

CONSISTENT CLOTHIER 
-Emma Clothier has been consistently efficient for the Mustangs. 
-Clothier is hitting .389 on the year, ranking second in the league and 32nd in the nation. 
-Clothier was named the AAC Defensive Player of the Week on Nov. 20 after leading the Mustangs in kills with 12 on .611 hitting and finishing with five blocks in Friday's sweep of North Texas. Clothier finished with seven kills, two blocks, and a dig on Saturday.
-Clothier was named the AAC and National Player of the Week after starting league play hitting .800 with 12 kills in SMU's sweep over Memphis. Clothier tallied 17 kills on .576 hitting, and 13 kills on .500 hitting in back-to-back matches at UTSA. 
-Clothier has tallied at least eight kills on .300 or better hitting in 23 out of 30 matches this season.
-Clothier has tallied at least 12 kills on .500 or better hitting seven times this season. 
-Clothier has posted 11 or more kills on .400 or better hitting three times this season. 
-Clothier has tallied five plus blocks 10 times this season and ranks eighth in the league in total blocks with 110. 
-Clothier was named to the All-Tournament Teams at the Seminole Invitational and the SMU DoubleTree Invitational.   

BREAK OUT YEAR FROM PERDUE
-Natalie Perdue is third on the team in kills with 291 total.
-Perdue has six double-doubles this season: vs. Auburn (15 kills, 12 digs), vs. Baylor (16 kills, 13 digs), vs. Houston (14 kills, 13 digs), vs. Wichita State (14 kills, 11 digs), at Florida Atlantic (16 kills, 18 digs), vs. Rice (18 kills, 16 digs).
-Perdue has turned in 181 kills, 109 digs, and 32 blocks through 17 matches in conference play. 
-Perdue put together an impressive non-conference.
-Perdue recorded double-digit kills in six straight matches between 9/1-9/15. She wrapped up non-conference play with 105 kills, 72 digs and three double-doubles. 
-Perdue was named to the All-Tournament Teams in back-to-back weeks to open the season at the Ameritas Players Challenge and the Stacey Clark Classic.

SETTING UP FOR SUCCESS 
-Celia Cullen ranks first in the AAC in assists per set and third in total assists. 
-The senior setter has passed out 1107 total assists (43rd nationally) and 10.54 per set (23rd nationally). 
-Cullen has led the Mustangs in assists in all 30 matches and has six double-doubles on the season. 
-Cullen recorded a season-high 58 assists against Florida Atlantic on Oct. 8, while also eclipsing 3000 career assists. 
-Cullen earned All-Tournament Honors at the Stacey Clark Classic. Cullen dished out 36 assists and recorded four digs against No. 20 Purdue. The next day, Cullen Cullen led SMU in assists (45) and digs (16) on the way to her third double-double of the year. 
-Cullen turned in back-to-back double-doubles against Auburn and Baylor. She passed out 41 assists and recorded 13 digs, against the Tigers, while turning in 54 assists and 19 digs against the Bears. 

DIGGIN' IT
-Defensive specialists/liberos Sina Uluave and Brooke Frazier have helped lead the Mustang defense this season. 
-Uluave leads the Mustangs with 414 total digs on the year. Uluave has tallied double-digit digs 24 times and has led the Mustangs in digs in 19 out of the last 21 matches. 
-The graduate libero has passed out 85 assists this season. 
-Uluave's been crowned the AAC Defensive Player of the Week twice this season. She earned her first honor on Oct. 9 after tallying 15 digs and adding five assists in SMU's sweep of Charlotte. The Mustangs held the 49ers to a .047 hitting percentage. On Sunday, Uluave led the Mustangs in digs with 21. Uluave earned the same honor on Nov. 6, after leading the SMU defense in its sweep of ECU, turning in 19 digs. Uluave averaged 3.66 digs per set and eclipsed double digits for the 19th time this season.
-Frazier has notched 261 digs and 42 assists this season.

WHEELER LIVING UP TO THE HYPE
-Preseason AAC Player of the Year selection Jamison Wheeler leads the Mustangs with 333 kills on the year and a team-high seven double-doubles. 
-Wheeler enters Wednesday's match after leading the Mustangs in kills with 14 against Pepperdine. On Saturday, she turned in her seventh double-double of the season (10 kills, 10 digs) against North Texas.
-The junior outside hitter was crowned the AAC Offensive Player of the Week three straight times (Oct. 9, Oct. 16, Oct. 23). 
-Wheeler earned her third AAC Player of the Week honor after posting back-to-back double-doubles versus Rice. Wheeler finished with 15 kills on .350 hitting and 14 digs on Friday and a season-high 23 kills and 19 digs while tying her career-high in blocks with four in SMU's five set victory on Saturday. 
-Wheeler earned the accolade on Oct. 16 after posting 31 kills and 19 digs across two matches at Tulsa. 
-Wheeler earned the honor for the first time after leading the Mustangs in kills with 15 in SMU's sweep of Charlotte. Wheeler turned in her second-highest hitting percentage of the season (.394) and added five digs, a block, and an assist. On Sunday, Wheeler tallied 21 kills along with eight digs, and a block.  
-Wheeler has tallied 231 kills and 171 digs throughout conference play. 
-Wheeler was named the Most Valuable Player of the SMU DoubleTree Invitational after recording 53 kills across three matches.
-Wheeler entered conference play after three straight 15 plus kill performances to finish non-conference. 

SHIMEING STAR
-SMU transfer outside hitter Naya Shime is putting together an impressive season.
-Shime was crowned the AAC's Offensive Player of the Week after posting double-digit kills in both of SMU's sweeps of North Texas. She tallied her third double-double of the season with 13 kills on .611 hitting and 11 digs on Saturday. Shime finished with 10 kills, eight digs, an ace, and an assist in Friday's victory.
-Shime earned a spot on the Weekly Honor Roll on Nov. 6 following double-digit kills (13) on .423, hitting for the second consecutive match and 10th time this season against ECU.  Shime added four digs and three blocks.
-Shime has turned in 149 kills, 97 digs and 48 blocks in conference play. 
-Shime turned in a career-high .889 hitting while adding six blocks and two digs in SMU's sweep of South Florida. 
-Shime posted a season-high seven blocks in SMU's second win against Rice on Oct. 21. 
-The Wyoming transfer finished the non-conference gauntlet with a team-high 107 kills, 81 digs and 30 blocks.
-The senior outside hitter recorded her first double-double of the season (17 kills, 14 digs) against Utah State. 
-At the Stacey Clark Classic, Shime recorded 16 kills on .517 hitting and added three digs to start the tournament against No. 20 Purdue. On Saturday, Shime turned in her second double-double of the year with 11 kills and 14 digs versus No. 21 Houston.

MOODY MAGIC
-SMU finished the regular season 13-1 in Moody Coliseum. The Mustangs closed out a successful home campaign with a sweep of Pepperdine. 
-SMU dominated North Texas in two matches to seal the third conference championship in program history Nov. 17-18. 
-SMU swept UAB and USF on Oct. 27 and 29th. 
-SMU took down Rice to claim sole possession of first place in the conference in back-to-back matches on Oct. 20 and 21st. 
-SMU swept Wichita State on Sept. 30, before falling to the Shockers in four sets in its lone home loss this season. 
-SMU picked up a 3-0 sweep of Memphis in its conference opener. -SMU took down Texas Tech, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and LSU at the Double-Tree Invitational. 
-The Mustangs picked up their highest ranked victory in program history when it defeated then-No. 14 Baylor 3-2 on Sept. 6. 

IN THE POLLS/RPI
-The Mustangs checked in at No. 25 in the NCAA RPI and have received votes in the last five AVCA Division 1 Top 25 Polls. SMU also received votes on Sept. 18. 

OCTOBER WIN STREAK
-The Mustangs picked up eight wins in nine matches during the month of October, including five sweeps. 

HOW SWEEP IT IS
-SMU has picked up 17 sweeps this season and 13 in AAC play. SMU enters Wednesday's match after eight consecutive sweeps. 

ON THE ATTACK
-SMU turned in the third best hitting percentage in program history (.444) against USF. 
1. 596 Jackson State Sept. 9, 2000 33-2-52
2. .471 Quinnipiac Aug. 30, 2013 41-9-68
3. .444 South Florida Oct. 28, 2023 35-3-72
4. .429 East Carolina Oct. 2, 2015 49-7-98
5. 427 Charleston Southern Aug. 24, 2012 44-12-75 
-SMU turned in back-to-back plus. 350 hitting performances against North Texas. SMU hit .364 on Friday, before finishing with a .364 percentage on Saturday. 

OHLINGER SHINES 
-Lauren Ohlinger capped off an impressive weekend in SMU's back-to-back sweeps of North Texas.
-The graduate outside hitter turned in double-digit kills (11) on .391 hitting, while adding a season-high four blocks on Friday against UNT. Ohlinger led the way for the Mustangs on Saturday, finishing with 14 kills, two aces and three digs.
-Lauren Ohlinger led SMU's high-powered offensive attack with a season-high 17 kills on .308 hitting, including eight in the second set in the Mustangs sweep over (RV) Florida State. The Boise State transfer turned in 30 kills across two matches at the Seminole Invitational. 
-Ohlinger finished non-conference with 57 kills.

FINISHING STRONG
-Graduate middle blocker Alex Glover is finishing up her decorated career at SMU in style. 
-Glover was named the AAC Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 9 after finishing off the weekend with a dominant performance in SMU's sweep of Tulsa. 
-Glover turned in a season-high 10 blocks and added four kills and two digs. She recorded six kills on eight swings while adding a team-high four blocks on Friday. Glover tallied 2.33 blocks per set over the Mustangs' pair of weekend sweeps.
-Glover has tallied six plus blocks seven times this season.

DEFENDING THE ATTACK
-SMU's defense has been solid all season long. 
-The Mustangs have held six opponents under .100 hitting this season, including five in conference play. 
-The Mustangs have held 11 opponents between .100-.199 hitting this season, including seven in conference play.
-SMU turned in a team season-high 16 blocks against Rice.
-The Mustangs have posted 10+ team blocks 11 times this season. 

SEPTEMBER TO REMEMBER
-SMU finished the month of September 9-3. SMU won seven consecutive matches, and recorded five sweeps during the month. 
-SMU won the DoubleTree Invitational, and picked up a road sweep at Florida State, along with its highest ranked win in program history, a 3-2 win over then-No. 14 Baylor. 
-SMU was undefeated in AAC play in September. 

PONY UP DALLAS
-In just seven days, SMU has raised $100 million to support the Mustangs' transition to the Atlantic Coast Conference. 
-The generous early commitments from a group of thirty donors that includes trustees and key donors – alumni and non-alumni alike – will enable SMU to align and compete with an elite group of national institutions with powerhouse athletic programs, benefitting both SMU Athletics and the entire University community. 
-The move to the new conference is also creating additional impact. Mustang fans have responded enthusiastically to the planned move, with men's basketball season ticket sales jumping 30% in the last week and hundreds of new football season tickets being sold as well.
-Notably, the move has immediately raised SMU's profile, with media coverage of the move generating more than $163 million in advertising value in the first three days. In that same small window, SMU also experienced a 103% increase in visitors to its undergraduate admissions homepage. 

NO PRESSURE, NO DIAMONDS
-The Mustangs 11-match non-conference gauntlet featured eight teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2022, including three who won at least one tournament match and four who reached the Sweet 16. Five teams on the docket received votes or finished in the AVCA top-25 rankings. 
-Nine of SMU's non-conference foes were ranked or received votes in the AVCA Top-25 Preseason Poll. -In-conference, the Mustangs host Rice in back-to-back matches in Moody Coliseum (Oct. 20 and 21). The Owls finished last season ranked 19th in the AVCA final top-25 rankings and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. 
-SMU faced 10 teams who finished in the top-50 in the NCAA RPI last season: Utah State (46), Nebraska (9), Florida State (30), Auburn (50), Baylor (16), Purdue (27), Kentucky (10)/Houston (18), LSU (48), Rice (15), Pepperdine (45). 

BUILDING SOMETHING SPECIAL
-Sam Erger was named the second head coach in the program's history Feb. 2, 2022, after spending the previous eight years at Baylor, including the last two as associate head coach.
-Erger took over for Lisa Seifert, who started the program and holds the SMU record for most coaching wins across all sports (441), announced her retirement in January of 2022. 
-Erger completed her first season (2022) as head coach on the Hilltop with a 22-10 overall record. Selected fifth in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, the Mustangs finished third with a 15-5 clip in league play. Marieke van der Mark and Jamison Wheeler earned All-AAC First Team honors, and Celia Cullen was named to the Second Team. It marked the first time since 2019 that two Mustangs earned first-team honors. SMU collected the third most selections in the conference under Erger.
-Trent Sorensen is the Mustangs associate head coach. Christa Branson serves as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Clayton Bristow is a assistant coach. Brittany Clark serves as the director of operations, and Diego Aguilar is the Mustangs graduate assistant. 

ALEX GLOVER- THE NIL SUMMIT 
This past fall, graduate student Alex Glover was presented with the opportunity to be a part of Meta's NIL Empower 2.0 NIL program — she was one of 30 female student-athletes across the nation.
The program provides student-athletes with a multitude of resources to help us amplify content creation efforts, specifically on Facebook and Instagram.
In addition to boosting their brands and helping prepare athletes for life after college, one of the advantages of being a part of Meta's NIL program was the chance to attend the 2023 NIL Summit in Atlanta just a few weeks ago in early June.
Meta was nominated for an award at the summit, so they invited the 30 student-athletes to Atlanta to meet each other face-to-face for the first time and continue to grow each other's brands and networks.
Glover was on a panel to speak on behalf of the Empower 2.0 program about content creation and storytelling.
"If there's anything I've learned within the past few years, it's that we have the capacity as student-athletes to write our own stories," graduate student-athlete Alex Glover said.  "Every single one of us is going to have to retire from our respective sports one day, but now more than ever, we have the ability to build our brand and set ourselves up for success once we graduate."

FOREIGN TOUR
-SMU volleyball embarked on the program's first ever foreign tour. The Mustangs completed a 10-day trip, May 21-30, that included stops throughout Greece and Italy.
-The Mustangs faced several international teams along the way. The tour began with four nights in Greece. While there, SMU faced Club Milon in Athens. The Mustangs visited the Acropolis and Plaka and  went sightseeing in Sounion and the island of Aegina. Next, SMU headed to Italy where they competed against Volleyro Roma and B1 team in Capannori.
-While in Italy, SMU visited the Colosseum and Roman Forum, along with stops at the Vatican and Trevi fountain, the region of Tuscany, and Lucca. The Mustangs closed out the tour with a match near Florence.