The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Southern Miss
Southern Miss Hands UAB Three-Set Volleyball Defeat
11/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 12, 2010
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Michele Simmons matched her season-high with 12 kills Friday night, but blocking and serving were the difference in the UAB volleyball team's 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-21) loss at Southern Miss.
The teams finished with the exact same attack percentage offensively (.266), but Southern Miss out-blocked the Blazers 9-3 and committed just two service errors to 10 for UAB.
"It really came down to us missing 10 serves," UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith said. "We banged the ball into their blockers a lot, too, but I felt like the biggest difference was that we executed poorly on our serves."
With the loss, UAB dropped to 8-19 (5-10 C-USA). The Blazers will now head to New Orleans, La., to face Tulane on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT. Southern Miss, which came into the match in fourth place in the league standings, improved to 17-10 (10-6 C-USA).
Ally Slaughter added nine kills for the Blazers, while Sam Serley and Kate Morrell finished with seven each. Ashley Mell led all players with 18 kills for Southern Miss.
For Simmons, it was her third match this year with 12 kills, one shy of her career high. She moved to the outside on Friday as the Blazers were forced to play for the first time without Jordan McDonald, who was injured last week at Rice.
"Michele was fantastic, and we had a pretty nice night offensively," Messersmith said. "It was different playing without Jordan, who has been one of our primary passers all year, but I thought we did alright."
Southern Miss recorded five of its nine blocks in the second set. Kelsea Seymour led all players individually with five blocks for the Golden Eagles.
UAB libero Heather Thomas led all players with 12 digs, but Southern Miss had three players finish with double-figure digs. Lisa Knecht and Halie Ecker posted 11 each and Seymour had 10.
Blazer setter Alison Woods led all players with 33 assists, while Seymour finished with 30 as part of a strong all-around match. Seymour also added seven kills to her 30 assists, 10 digs and five blocks.
