The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
UCLA
What a Run; Volleyball Loses to #4 UCLA in First-ever NCAA Appearance
12/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Dec. 2, 2006
LOS ANGELES -- The UAB volleyball team saw its memorable 2006 season come to an end Friday night in Pauley Pavilion as #4 UCLA defeated the Blazers, 3-0 (30-24, 30-21, 30-23), in the first round of the NCAA Championship. The tournament appearance was the first all-time for UAB, capping off a historic season in which the Blazers won the program's first-ever Conference USA Tournament title and posted the highest single-season win total since 1991 with their 27 triumphs.
"We competed very hard against a very, very good UCLA team tonight," UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith said of her teams' performance. "UCLA is a great team and it was a great environment to play in. It's always tough to see your season come to an end, but this has just been such a great year and you can't overlook the accomplishments of these girls this season. This year was certainly one for the books and I'm really proud of how we went out fighting."
Messersmith earned her 500th career coaching victory previously this season and led her team to the two longest winning streaks of the season in Conference USA after the Blazers won 10-straight matches between Sept. 6-22 and then posted a 13-match win streak that started back on Oct. 18 and ended against the Bruins Friday night.
Sophomore outside hitter Ivana Bozic and junior outside hitter Fernanda Domingos led the Blazers with 12 kills a piece, while Casey Dent had 10 kills, while hitting .304. It was just the second time all year that the Blazers lost when Dent hit .300 or better.
Junior libero Brianna Galvin finished with 12 digs on the defensive end, 10 of which came in the third game. Sophomore setter Nevena Stefanov once again did a remarkable job running the offense as she finished with 36 assists.
Junior outside hitter Aleksandra Vujovic had 10 digs.
UCLA was led by their standout Nana Meriwether who tallied 12 kills on an impressive .435 hitting performance. She also had five blocks.
Other notable performances by the Bruins came from Katie Carter who had 13 kills, while Kaitlin Sather finished with 10. Nellie Spicer had 40 assists in the contest, while five players had three blocks or more.
UAB went up early in game one when back-to-back kills by Dent and Stefanov gave the Blazers the first two points of the match and then another Dent kill followed by a Bozic kill made it 4-2.
UCLA came back, however and took a 12-9 lead on a Meriwether kill and then moved the score to 19-14 on a kill by Sather. UAB then cut the deficit to four, 20-16, behind a Dent kill and a Bruins hitting error. Still trailing by four, UAB got another kill by Dent on a cross to make it 22-19.
Still coming back, a Bozic ace cut the UCLA lead to two, 24-22, before the Bruins rallied to win three-straight points, capped-off by a Meriwether kill, to make it 28-23 and force a UAB timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Bruins quickly brought up game points and then closed out the game, 30-24, to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
UAB came back to hang tough in game two as a Domingos kill, followed by a Bozic kill, made it 6-4, in favor of UCLA. The Bruins then made their charge, winning five-straight points to take an 11-5 advantage.
UCLA continued to move forward as a Meriwether kill made it 17-11 before UAB got one back as a kill by freshman outside hitter Aley Tallman cut the Bruins' lead to 18-13. The Bruins regained their momentum and increased their lead to 22-15 on a Katie Carter kill and then a Sather kill made it 26-17 a few points later.
Trailing 29-17, UAB made one last charge in the second game as kills by Bozic and Domingos, in addition to a block by Domingos and junior middle blocker Shaniquwa Cooper made it 29-20.
Still holding a handful of game points, the Bruins closed out the game, 30-21, on a kill by Nellie Spicer, to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission.
UAB came out of the locker room and took a 4-2 lead behind a pair of Bozic kills and another by Cooper. The Blazers then extended the lead to 7-4 on a Domingos kill and then a Tallman kill made it 8-5 a couple points later.
The Bruins came back to tie the score at 10-10 on a Daley kill and then took a 15-13 lead on a Carter kill a few points later. UAB came back and tied the score again at 15-15 following a Domingos kill and a Tallman block.
Still surging, back-to-back aces by Bozic made it 17-15 before UCLA again responded and regained the lead, 22-20, on a Sather kill. The Bruins continue to inch towards the victory as a Meriwether kill made it 26-21 and then back-to-back blocks by UCLA closed out the game, 30-23, and the match 3-0.
UCLA advances to Saturday's second round against Utah, at 7 p.m., in Pauley Pavilion. UAB finishes the season with a record of 27-10 (10-6 C-USA) and as 2006 Conference USA Tournament Champions.
