The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Tulane
Blazer Volleyball Blitzes Green Wave In 3-0 Road Sweep
11/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 14, 2010
NEW ORLEANS -- Two weeks ago in Birmingham, the UAB volleyball team produced its best offensive performance of the season in a 3-0 sweep of Tulane. It's best offensive performance, that is, until seeing the Green Wave again on Sunday.
In their second meeting of the year, the Blazers hit for a .357 percentage as a team on the way to a 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-13) road victory at Fogelman Arena.
The .357 percentage was the highest for UAB since a .446 effort at Tulsa back in 2008. The Blazers hit .344 in the previous meeting with Tulane on Oct. 29 and combined for a .350 mark over their two wins against the Green Wave.
Ally Slaughter led the way for UAB with 12 kills. It marked the fifth time the Pelham, Ala., product has reached double-figures in her freshman campaign, but her .524 attack percentage Sunday was a career-best.
"Ally had a heck of a match, and she also served really well for us," UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith said. "It was a nice effort from everyone. Our offense has just really started to come along in the last three or four weeks."
The Blazers (9-19, 6-10 C-USA) started out strong and only got stronger. After winning a pair of close sets in the opening two frames, UAB exploded in the third. The team combined for 12 kills without a single error, hitting for an amazing .706 percentage to close the match out in three.
Tulane (10-19, 7-10 C-USA) placed three players in double-digit kills and actually finished with more kills (42) than UAB (37). But the Green Wave also committed 23 errors to just seven for the Blazers. Milica Jovic paced Tulane with 13 kills, followed by Lindsey Shepard with 12 and Cori Martone with 11.
Part of the reason for all the Tulane errors was the blocking performance of the UAB front line. The Blazers combined for 10 blocks in the three-set match, led by Sam Serley's six total blocks.
Kirsten Gallagher contributed a career-high four total blocks for the Blazers and also managed a season-best four kills.
"Kirsten made a difference for us defensively, blocking and cutting off the net, playing some short balls up," Messersmith said. "Kirsten's last month of practice has just been fantastic, and she came in and had some big blocks early in the match."
UAB ran a 6-2 offense for the first time in more than a month and found success as setters Alison Woods and Becca Howard combined for 31 assists.
Blazer libero Heather Thomas led all players with 13 digs as she improved her season total to 532, the third-highest mark in school history. The junior is closing in on her own second-place mark of 586 from last season and Brianna Galvin's school record of 592.
Thomas also moved into fourth place on the Blazers' career digs list with 1,425 in her three years at the school.
Kate Morrell was another top offensive performer for UAB on Sunday, finishing with nine kills and just one error in 22 attempts (.364). Serley added six kills for the Blazers.
UAB now returns to Birmingham for three of its final four matches. The Blazers open that stretch by hosting UTEP on Friday at 7 p.m. CT.
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