The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Back Home For Tuesday Match With Middle Tennessee
9/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 21, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- After three full weeks and 11 straight matches on the road, the UAB volleyball team is finally ready for its second home match of the season.
The Blazers host Middle Tennessee in non-conference action Tuesday at Bartow Arena. Match time is set for 7 p.m. CT in the first of three straight contests at home for UAB. Houston and Rice will visit Birmingham this weekend as the Blazers get into the heart of conference play.
UAB and Middle Tennessee have met 13 times previously with the Blazers holding an 11-2 lead in the all-time series. The Blue Raiders, however, won the most recent contest with a 3-1 victory on their home court in the final match of the 2007 regular season. Prior to that match, the teams had not met since back-to-back UAB wins in 2001 and 2002.
Two current UAB players, Andrea Lalic and Savannah Pegg, saw action in that 2007 match. Pegg was then a member of the program at Middle Tennessee, where she played for two seasons before transferring to UAB in 2008. Five current Blue Raiders played in the 2007 contest.
Another connection between the two programs is current UAB volunteer assistant coach Ashley Adams, who was an honorable mention All-American as a player on Middle Tennessee's 2007 NCAA Sweet 16 team.
Middle Tennessee, coming off three straight postseason appearances, has posted a 6-6 record so far in 2009 against a difficult schedule. The Blue Raiders opened with five wins in a row before suffering six straight losses. They snapped that streak with a 3-0 sweep of UTSA on Saturday.
UAB is 7-7 overall and coming off a pair of 3-1 losses Saturday to New Orleans and Samford at the Tiger Invitational in Memphis. Those defeats came on the heels of a come-from-behind, 3-2 win over Memphis on Thursday in the Conference USA opener and a 3-1 win over UALR on Saturday.
Sam Serley hit .407 over the four matches last week and reached double-digit kills in each contest on her way to Tiger Invitational all-tournament honors. Serley has been part of a balanced offensive attack for UAB that features four players averaging more than 2.00 kills per set -- Lalic (2.91), Serley (2.75), Pegg (2.37) and Patty Paniagua (2.19).
The UAB athletic department has several promotional activities lined up for Tuesday's match. The Blazers will be celebrating Educator Appreciation Night, and all UAB educators who show their employee ID will receive $2 admission.
All students are invited to a Gang Green tailgate prior to the match at 6:30 p.m. and will receive free food with a valid student ID. Also, the first 25 students at the match will receive a free UAB stress ball.
As always, fans can follow Tuesday's match through All-Access streaming video and Gametracker live stats at uabsports.com.
