The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
New Orleans
UAB Wins Second Straight Tournament at Sheraton New Orleans Classic
9/16/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith said she was extremely pleased with her team's effort on Saturday and believes it will give the team an added boost heading into their Conference USA opener on Tuesday.
"We are really proud of how the girls played today," Messersmith said. "We saw an all-around great effort today. Ivana really stepped up her play today which was great to see and I think today was a huge in setting a tone for our conference opener on Tuesday."
In UAB's win over Northwestern State, Bozic, led the Blazers charge with 27 kills and 12 digs to go along with an incredible nine service aces, while hitting .382 for the match. Junior outside hitter Casey Dent continued her impressive attack play as she put away 18 kills on a .552 hitting performance, in addition to having six block assists.
Another Blazer continuing her strong offensive play was junior outside hitter Aleksandra Vujovic, who finished with her second consecutive double-double with 16 kills and 16 digs. Sophomore setter Nevena Stefanov led the team with 66 assists and four block assists. Junior libero Brianna Galvin had a match-high 19 digs to help UAB win its 10th match of the season.
Against New Orleans, Bozic finished with a match-high 25 kills and eight digs, while Vujovic posted her third consecutive double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs. Stefanov once again led the team in assists with 55 to go along with five digs. Galvin led the team defensively with a match-high 19 digs.
After trailing 5-2 early in the first game with New Orleans, UAB battled back and used a stretch of six straight points won to take a 27-22 lead after an attack error on New Orleans. A few points later, another error on New Orleans, this time a bad set, gave the Blazers the 30-24 victory in game one, capping off UAB's run of winning nine of the last 11 points in the game.
In game two, New Orleans looked to answer UAB's early lead. The Privateers never trailed in game two, winning 30-23, on a kill by Dobrila Kovacevic.
UAB got off to a quick start in game three after three consecutive hitting errors by New Orleans gave the Blazers the 3-0 lead. The Blazers went on to return the favor from game two as they never trailed in game three, leading by as many as 10 when a Bozic kill made it 20-10. The Privateers managed to crawl back into the third game, however another kill by Bozic and a hitting error on New Orleans gave UAB the game, 30-26, to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Game four went back-and-forth early on, before New Orleans began to slowly separate itself from the Blazers when a kill by Lindsey Boler gave the Privateers a 15-10 lead. UAB would respond, narrowing the deficit to one, 16-15, after a kill by junior outside hitter Fernanda Domingos. Shortly after, back-to-back service aces by Galvin gave the Blazers a one-point lead, 18-17.
Leading 22-21, Dent stepped up, putting away a kill and then serving four-straight winning points, including an ace that opened up a 26-21 lead for the Blazers. After the Privateers cut the UAB lead down to three, 27-24, Bozic recorded her last two kills of the match to bring the Blazers within one-point of a victory. UAB then closed out the game, 30-27, and the match, 3-1 after a hitting error by New Orleans.
The Blazers will next be in action on Tuesday when they begin Conference-USA play when they host Memphis at 7:00 p.m. in Bartow Arena.
