With 12 games left in the season, but with their record two games shy of .500, the UTM volleyball team hopes to not only reach the .500 mark, but surpass it.
The Skyhawk volleyball team began conference play on Friday, Sept. 21, at home against Murray State.The team was coming into the conference portion of their schedule coming off of four season-opening tournaments, in which they came out with an overall record of 6-7.
Among those four tournaments was the Skyhawk Invitational held at the Skyhawk Fieldhouse, where UTM would go 3-1, defeating Central Arkansas, University of Memphis and Florida A&M, and only losing to the University of Alabama- Birmingham.
UTM began OVC play strong with a 3-2 victory over Murray, but then would drop two in a row, losing 1-3 to both Austin Peay and SIUE. Most recently, the Skyhawks traveled to Eastern Illinois University where they would defeat the Panthers 3-1.
In that match, sophomore defensive specialist and outside hitter Jamie Rys would lead the team in kills, with a total ofĀ 17, followed by junior outside hitter Hannah Phillips (13), and senior outside hitter Megan Fair (12). Fair would also come in with the second most digs in that match (26), right behind senior libero and defensive specialist Brooke Gyori, who had 27.
In their last game, at Southeast Missouri, UTM dropped the match 1-3 to the Redhawks. In that game, Phillips led the Skyhawks in kills, with 13, and Gyori and Fair came in with the most digs yet again (18 and 17 respectively).
So far on the season Fair and Phillips are way ahead of the pack (and neck and neck) in numbers of kills, Fair with 171 and Phillips with 170.The leader in digs on the UTM team is no contest, however, as that spot goes to Gyori, who currently has 361 digs on the season. The next closest teammate to Gyori in digs is the kills leader, Fair, who has accumulated 191 digs so far.
Next, the Skyhawks will return home on Friday, Oct. 5, to play Jacksonville State. The Gamecocks are currently on a two-game winning streak, but aĀ streak which snapped a previous five-game losing streak, with four of those five games being on the road.
Jacksonville State has a one- game better record than UTM, at 9-9, but the two teams share an identical conference record of 2-3.
The UTM volleyball team will be hoping to gain the edge over a Jacksonville State team that appears to struggle on the road.
To keep up with that game and all of the UTM volleyball games, visit utmsports.com.
