The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
SMU
Volleyball Stands Alone In Third With Win At SMU
11/4/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 4, 2007
DALLAS, Texas - UAB junior Lilly Domingos had 11 kills on .562 hitting to help lead UAB to a 3-0 (30-21, 30-29, 30-19) victory at SMU Sunday afternoon. The Blazers are now 21-7 (11-3 C-USA) on the year and have taken over sole possession of third place in the league standings thanks to Tulsa holding on for a 3-1 victory over Memphis on Sunday.
"I'm not sure how much of a difference it makes," UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith said of her team's third place standing following Sunday's win. "We still have to win two more matches next weekend before the tournament and even going in to the tournament, you have to beat everyone to win it, so I don't know that it matters whether we're third, fourth or fifth."
SMU falls to 15-13 (5-9 C-USA) after being handed its first-ever loss to UAB.
The Blazers, who have now won four straight and 13 of their last 14, got another stellar effort from junior Aleksandra Vujovic on Sunday. Vujovic finished with 14 kills and 12 digs for her eighth double-double of the season.
Junior Casey Dent had 11 kills on .500 hitting against the Mustangs, while senior Fernanda Domingos finished with nine kills.
Sunday's win improves the Blazers' record to 14-0 this season when hitting .250 or better. The Blazers hit a combined .285 at SMU thanks to the distribution of junior Nevena Stefanov who dished out 42 assists, which she paired with 10 digs on the defensive end to mark her eighth double-double of the season.
"We're playing really well right now and I credit a lot of that to Nevena because she is our leader out there and has been playing really well recently," Messersmith said. "Our passing has been on lately which makes Nevena more effective. This is definitely the perfect time for everything to start clicking."
Senior Brianna Galvin led the team's defensive performance as she finished with a match-high 18 digs. Senior Nicole Bowland also had a strong defensive showing, finishing with a season-high 12 digs.
"Brianna had a tremendous weekend," Messersmith said. "She's another player that I think we look to for leadership and inspiration and she put together two very inspiring performances this weekend."
Caitlin Rainbird led SMU with 10 kills and 12 digs, while Natalie Peters finished with 10 kills and four total blocks.
The Blazers will now return home for their final home weekend of the season next weekend. UAB will host C-USA leader Marshall at 7:00 p.m. on Friday before closing out conference play against East Carolina on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
