The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Tulsa
Tulsa Halts UAB's C-USA Tournament Title Defense
11/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 18, 2007
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. - The UAB volleyball team's Conference USA Tournament title defense came to an end on Sunday as the Blazers lost in the championship match to Tulsa, 3-2 (30-27, 24-30, 20-30, 30-22, 15-12) inside the Cam Henderson Center. UAB senior Fernanda Domingos and junior Nevena Stefanov were named to the all-tournament team.
Sunday's match was the third straight year the league's championship match came down to a decisive fifth game.
Tulsa moves to 27-8 with the win, while UAB, which was 6-0 this season in five-game matches entering Sunday, falls to 24-9.
"Surely I'm disappointed, I'm disappointed for the girls, they overcame a lot of adversity this season with all of our injuries," said UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith. "Tulsa played really well all tournament, so I have to credit them, they played really well. This was a really evenly played match and could've gone either way."
Domingos and sophomore Andrea Lalic led the Blazers with 19 kills, while junior Casey Dent chipped in with 16. Junior Lilly Domingos, who had seven blocks in the match, also finished in double-figures in kills with 14.
Stefanov finished with a match-high 58 assists, in addition to having 16 digs and four blocks on the defensive end.
Senior Brianna Galvin surpassed 20 digs in a match for the eighth time this season as she finished with a team-high 26.
Tulsa was led by Fabiola Nepomuceno who finished with a match-high 27 kills to go along with four blocks. Emma Ridley was also strong offensively, finishing with 22 kills.
Julia Silva was named the Conference USA Tournament MVP after dishing out 57 assists and making 17 digs against the Blazers.
Malorey Grove had a match-high 38 digs to lead the Golden Hurricane defensively.
UAB trailed early in game one before a long rally that ended with a Fernanda kill jump started a four-point UAB run that gave the Blazers the lead, 14-13.
Tulsa came back and built a 26-23 lead on one of Nepomuceno's 10 game one kills, but the Blazers again came back to even the score, 26-26, on a Lalic kill.
The Golden Hurricane went on to earn game point at 29-27 when Hannah Stout and Nicole Boyle blocked an attack by Lalic and then Ridley put away her fourth kill of the game to close out the 30-27 victory and take the 1-0 edge in the match.
The Blazers made their move in game two when they strung together a run of seven straight points that were capped off by back-to-back kills by Lalic and an attack error on Tulsa to give UAB a 16-9 lead.
UAB continued to roll in the second game, building a 20-10 advantage on an ace by Fernanda and then a Lalic kill brought up game point at 29-21. A kill by Dent closed out the game, 30-24, to even the match heading into the intermission.
Out of the locker room, UAB picked up where it left off, building a 10-4 lead on a block by Lilly and Stefanov. The Blazers then went ahead 23-10 after a service ace by junior Aleksandra Vujovic.
Tulsa managed to win the next seven points to cut the deficit to 23-17, but the Blazers responded and pulled away to take a 30-20 victory following back-to-back kills by Lalic.
Trailing 2-1 in the match, Tulsa came out in game four and took a 17-11 lead on a block by Nepomuceno before UAB mounted a come back as a kill by Stefanov followed by a block by senior Shaniquwa Cooper and Dent tied the game, 19-19.
Tulsa again distanced itself from there, going up 25-20 on a block by Stout. The Golden Hurricane continued to pull away, ultimately closing out the game, 30-22, after back-to-back service aces by Boyle.
The two team's alternated points early in game five before a series of errors on the Blazers let the Golden Hurricane take a 10-7 lead to force a UAB timeout.
The three-point run would be all Tulsa would need as the Golden Hurricane pulled away with one last kill by Nepomuceno giving it a 15-12 victory.
The Blazers will play one final regular season match at Middle Tennessee on Friday at 7:00 p.m.
