The University of Memphis volleyball team opened their season Friday by defeating South Carolina Upstate 3-2 and Northwestern State 3-0 at Elma Roane Fieldhouse.
The Tigers have a new coach for this season, Cheri Lindsay, who previously coached at Prairie View A&M. Memphis also played in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse for the first time since 2020 and will play their home games there this season. They had played at the Finch Center for the last few years.
Dennis Duke, a fan and yearly season ticket holder was happy about the move. “I’m excited about them playing at this arena now. The Finch Center was nice, but it was small and had very little seating,” Duke said.
The first game against the South Carolina Upstate Spartans started at 10 a.m. and had a special event called Field Trip to the Fieldhouse where kids from the campus schools and various other Shelby County schools attended. The kids were loud and this created a raucous atmosphere with the gym being close to full by the time the first set was underway.
The Spartans won a close first set, 25-22. The next set was just as competitive with the Spartans winning 25-23. In the third set, with their backs against the wall, Memphis swung the momentum and took the set, 25-18. The Tigers then won the fourth set 25-23 to force a fifth set.
In the last set, South Carolina Upstate quickly jumped out to a 9-1 lead. Memphis clawed their way back and tied the game at 12. The Tigers took the lead 15-14 and then had a kill from Amanda Hardt to secure the set, 16-14, and the game, 3-2.
“That’s the first of many. It wasn’t pretty, but that’s okay,” head coach Cheri Lindsay said to her team postgame. “A win is a win, and we’re going to keep getting better and better.”
Memphis played Northwestern State later in the day, at 7 p.m., as a part of the rumble at the Roane event. This game was much quieter than the morning one but still saw an attendance of about 500.
The game against Northwestern State was less competitive than the first game, with the Tigers winning 3-0. They won big in the first two sets with scores of 25-13 and 25-15. The third set was closer, but the Tigers won it as well, 25-19.
Memphis will continue their rumble at the Roane event Saturday when they play Tennessee State at 12:30 p.m. It will be streamed on ESPN+.
