University of Houston
Memphis (C-USA Tournament)
Cougar voleyball knocked out by Memphis
11/24/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 24, 2003
NEW ORLEANS - Sophomore Nancy Nellans hit a ball down the line for her 14th kill of the match to send the Memphis volleyball team (30-5) to its first-ever Conference USA Championship final with a 3-1 win over Houston (12-19) on Sunday at Fogelman Arena. The Tigers will face No. 2 seed Louisville at 7:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on the College Sports Network on DirecTV and will be shown on a tape-delayed basis on Fox Sports Net Chicago at 11 a.m, Nov. 25th. With the win, Memphis becomes just the second program in C-USA history to win 30 matches in a single season.
"The first two games were probably two of the best games the team as played as a whole," Head Coach Carrie Yerty said. "We knew that Houston would come back after the second game, we felt like our advantage was that we had fresher athletes than they did. They had two tough matches prior to this, but we expected a fight that third game. I think this win is a huge step for the U of M volleyball program and I truly believe the girls thought all along this was where we belonged."
The last two games and the first two games did not seem to belong in the same match. The Tigers came out and dominated games one and two, 30-19 and 30-22, but the Tiger defense went astray in the third game, getting a hold of just six digs in the third game, while Houston hit .379 compared to the Tigers' .098.
"We played tense when it got close in games three and four and that was probably just due to our youth," Yerty said. "But our seniors stepped up, Shella was big with five blocks and hitting .240 and Brittany did a great job in some tough spots as well. And Heather Watts (Sandy, Utah/Skyline) was just a stabilizing force for us all weekend. I'm just so proud of this team and how far they've come."
Tiara Gilkey would lead the Tigers with 15 kills, while Nancy Nellans added 14 and Brittany Barnett had 12. Shella Neba added 10 to put four Tigers in double-digit kills and led the Tiger blocking game with five blocks.
Kelly McAnelly led the Cougars with 18 kills, while Cinthia Piva added 10. Piva led all players with 18 digs, while Jaci Gonzalez finished with 10 digs.
Memphis will make its first-ever appearance against the 18th ranked Louisville Cardinals in the finals, Monday, at 7 p.m. in Tulane's Fogelman Arena. Louisville has appeared in six C-USA finals, including the last five straight. The Cardinals downed Memphis 3-2 in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse earlier in the season.
