The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Volleyball Set For First Full Conference Weekend
9/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 25, 2008
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB volleyball team travels to East Carolina and Marshall this weekend for a pair of Conference USA matches.
The Blazers make the trip to Greenville, N.C., Friday for a 6 p.m. CT contest with the Pirates and then continue on to Huntington, W.V., to battle the Thundering Herd on Sunday at Noon CT.
UAB enters Friday's contest at 9-3 overall (0-1 C-USA), having won nine of its past 10 matches. The Blazers went 3-0 last weekend as co-host of the UAB/Samford Invitational to post their third straight undefeated tournament.
This weekend marks the first full conference weekend for UAB, which opened league play last Thursday with a 3-1 loss to Memphis. Starting with Friday's match, 15 of the Blazers' next 16 matches are conference contests.
"We've known all along that Conference USA is going to be very challenging this season," UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith said. "We played a non-conference schedule that we believe has prepared us well, and we're ready to really get into our conference schedule."
East Carolina comes into Friday's match at 11-5 overall (1-0 C-USA). The Pirates have won three of their past four matches and opened league play last Friday with a 3-1 win over Marshall.
UAB won both matches against the Pirates in 2007, taking a 3-1 victory in Greenville and picking up a 3-0 sweep in Birmingham.
Sunday's contest at Marshall features a matchup of teams that split their 2007 meetings. UAB earned a 3-1 win last season in Huntington, but Marshall returned the favor with a 3-0 victory in Birmingham.
The Thundering Herd enters play this weekend at 7-4 overall (0-1 C-USA) after their loss last Friday to East Carolina. Before the match with UAB, Marshall gets its weekend started Friday with a league contest against Memphis.
Following its conference weekend, UAB plays its third straight road match Tuesday at Tennessee State before returning home for eight of its next 10 contests.
