(RV) SMU (5-2) vs. #10 Kentucky (5-2)
Friday, Sep. 13 | 7 PM CT
Moody Coliseum – Dallas, Texas
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(RV) SMU (5-2) vs. #7 Purdue (6-0) or Houston (3-2)
Saturday, Sept. 14 | 4 PM CT
Moody Coliseum – Dallas, Texas
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SETTING THE SCENE

• SMU Volleyball is set to host their second consecutive weekend tournament, as they welcome #10 Kentucky, #7 Purdue, and Houston to Dallas for the SMU Doubletree Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
• The Mustangs are coming off a sweep over #18 Baylor Tuesday night, their second-ranked win of the season, and now turn their attention to another quality opponent in the #10 Kentucky Wildcats Friday night. The Mustangs will then face either #7 Purdue or Houston on Saturday afternoon.

MORE ON THE BAYLOR WIN

• (RV) SMU Volleyball knocked off their second-ranked opponent this season in a sweep of #18 Baylor Tuesday night in Waco with set scores of 25-21, 25-15, and 25-16.
• During the Sam Erger era, the Mustangs have yet to lose to the Bears.
• The win marked just the second time SMU Volleyball has won in Waco in the program's 29-year history. The win also evened the all-time series, with each team now having six wins.
• Coach Sam Erger has three ranked wins at the helm on the Hilltop, two against Baylor in each of the last two seasons, and the win over #2 Nebraska a week ago.
• Naya Shime earned her 1,000th career kill on Tuesday night. Shime had a season-high 19 kills while hitting .452 Tuesday night. 
• With her performance Tuesday, Celia Cullen moved up to 7th in the SMU record books in assists, passing Kendall Patterson (2576, 2016-19) 
• Natalie Foster logged nine kills on 13 attempts with a team-high six blocks.
• SMU has now held six of their seven opponents to under .200 hitting. 
• The Mustangs have swept four of the seven teams they've faced this season.

SHIME ECLIPSES 1,000 KILLS

• Naya Shime earned her 1,000th career kill on Tuesday night.
• She had a season-high 19 kills while hitting .452 Tuesday night and four blocks in the win.
• Shime leads the team in kills with 86 this season, which ranks 5th in the ACC. She also ranked 3rd in the conference in points with 101.5 through seven matches this year.

OKAMMOR EARNS ACC DEFENSIVE POW HONORS

• SMU middle blocker Nnedi Okammor has been named Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Defensive Player of the Week, announced by the conference Monday.
• Okammor helped SMU to a 3-1 week with sweeps of No. 2 Nebraska, Milwaukee, and Weber State. The honor marks the first individual accolade for the program as a member of the ACC and the third honor for Okammor in her career. The middle blocker was a two-time SEC Defensive Player of the Week at Florida.
• Okammor started in each of the Mustangs' outings during the week, averaging 1.43 blocks per set. She collected 20 blocks in four games, including a season-high nine against No. 2 Nebraska in SMU's upset win over the Huskers Tuesday night. She also had a significant impact offensively, hitting .367 during the week with 22 kills and a .364 hitting percentage against Nebraska.

DOUBLETREE CLASSIC RECAP

• SMU went 2-1 in the Doubletree Classic over the weekend, sweeping both Milwaukee and Weber State before falling in a five-setter to LMU in the tournament's final match.
• Naya Shime and Natalie Foster were named to the Doubletree Classic All-Tournament team after standout performances in the three outings.

UPSETTING NO. 2 NEBRASKA

• The Mustangs swept the Huskers in Moody Coliseum in front of a record crowd of 6,773 people, crushing the previous record of 1,819 against TCU in 2019.
• The win over Nebraska was also the first time an unranked team has swept the powerhouse program in a decade.
• The match was also the highest scan in Moody for any event in the last four years.
• SMU hit .242 against the Huskers in an all-out team effort.
• Graduate students Naya Shime and Maya Tabron led the Mustangs with nine kills each, tied for the match-high. Natalie Foster finished with eight kills and five aces, which tied her career-best.
• Jamison Wheeler also had a solid outing, ending the night with six kills and 13 digs. Shime neared a double-double, adding ten digs to her nine kills on Tuesday night. Middle blocker Nnedi Okammor was a block short of tying her career-high with nine on the night while also adding four kills. Setter Celia Cullen logged 29 assists, five digs, and two kills against the Huskers.

A LOOK AT THE OPPONENT

Kentucky

• The Wildcats are 5-2 this season, with their two losses coming to #2 Nebraska and #7 Penn State.
• They bring a two-game winning streak into Friday's matchup, both sweep over James Madison and Ball State.
• Kentucky has been ranked in the top-25 of the American Volleyball Coaches' Association (AVCA) Top 25 poll in 118 consecutive weeks.
• Kentucky has reached the NCAA Regional Final round in the last two seasons and won the 2020 NCAA National Champion.
• They are led by Head Coach Craig Skinner, who is in his 20th season in Lexington.
• Under Skinner, UK has reached the NCAA Tournament in 19 of those 20 seasons and has won seven-straight SEC Championships.
• Friday's matchup will be the first meeting between the two programs since 2003.

Purdue

• The undefeated Purdue Boilermakers enter the week as the #7 ranked team by the AVCA.
• They are coming off two road sweeps against Utah and Utah State last weekend.
• Last season, the Boilermakers went 23-9, 15-5 in the Big Ten, falling to No. 2 Seed Oregon in the Round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
• They are led by two-time Big Ten Coach of the Year Dave Shondell, who is in his 22nd year at the helm of Boilermaker volleyball in 2024 after joining the program on Feb. 13, 2003. 
• The Boilermakers have only lost two sets this season.

Houston

• Houston brings a 3-2 record into the weekend, with their two losses coming to #6 Texas and Louisiana.
• The Cougars went 19-10 last season and 11-7 in the Big 12 in 2023.
• They earned an NCAA Tournament bid and won their first match with UC Santa Barbara before following in five to No. 1 seed Stanford in the second round.
• Houston entered the season receiving votes in the AVCA/TARAFLEX Preseason poll.

ALL-TIME SERIES

• SMU is 0-3 against Kentucky, with the last meeting being in 2003.
• The Mustangs have a long history with Houston that dates back to 1998. SMU leads the overall series 25-21 and is 16-7 at home against the Cougars. SMU has lost the last three meetings, the most recent being last year in the Stacey Clark Classic, as Houston took the match in four sets.
• Purdue won both meetings against Purdue, including a 3-1 victory last season in the Stacy Clark Classic.

AVCA POLL

• For the third straight poll, SMU is receiving votes in the AVCA/TARAFLEX poll. This week, SMU received 126 votes, the most votes from any team receiving votes. In 2024, SMU will face 12 teams that were either ranked or received votes in the final 2023 poll on their schedule.
• SMU has wins over two ranked teams this season: #2 Nebraska and #18 Baylor.

FOSTER AT THE SERVICE LINE

• Natalie Foster has been a weapon at the service line.
• She has 17 aces so far this year, the second most in the ACC and 6th in the country. Her 0.65 aces per set is good for 27th best in the nation.