The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Marshall
Blazers Take Down Marshall Sunday In Five Sets
9/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 28, 2008
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- For the second time this weekend, the UAB volleyball team pulled out a five-set win in Conference USA action.
After a 3-2 win Friday at East Carolina, the Blazers went into Huntington, W.V., Sunday and earned a 3-2 (26-24, 20-25, 19-25, 25-22, 18-16) victory over Marshall.
Both matches followed a similar script with UAB winning the first set and then dropping two in a row before clinching the final two. With the pair of wins this weekend, the Blazers improved to 4-0 on the season in five-set matches.
UAB has now won five matches in a row and 11 of its past 12 contests. The Blazers stand at 11-3 (2-1 C-USA) on the season. Marshall falls to 8-5 (1-2 C-USA) with the loss.
"It was really a great match," UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith said. "It could have gone either way. We lost our focus a little bit in those second and third sets, but we were able to gather ourselves and win another close one."
In Sunday's win, UAB setter Nevena Stefanov reached a milestone for her career. The senior collected 53 assists and now stands in second place all-time at UAB with 4,922 career assists. Stefanov dished out 54 assists two days ago in the win over East Carolina and totaled 107 for the weekend.
Lilly Domingos led three Blazers in double-figure kills with 16 Sunday to go along with a team-best .414 hitting percentage. Casey Dent, after posting 21 kills Friday at East Carolina, finished off a solid weekend with 14 more kills Sunday. Andrea Lalic was the third Blazer in double figures with 12 kills.
"Marshall had a really tough time stopping our middles today," Messersmith said. "Lilly got going for us, and, when she gets in a rhythm, she is very tough to stop."
Heather Thomas led the Blazers in digs with 12, followed by Ivana Bozic with 11.
"I thought Heather, especially, played very solid defense for us," Messersmith said, "and that was very important in this match."
After fighting back to even the match at two sets apiece, UAB was locked in a tight fifth set with Marshall. The Blazers trailed 14-12 before a Marshall error and a Bozic kill knotted the score at 14-14. Then, with the score again tied at 16-16, UAB managed two straight points on a Lalic kill and a Dent block to seal the win.
UAB returns to action Tuesday with a non-conference match at Tennessee State in Nashville, Tenn. That contest is slated for a 6 p.m. CT start.
