The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Arkansas
UAB Volleyball Takes Down Arkansas, 3-2
9/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 11, 2010
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- The UAB volleyball team out-lasted Arkansas for a 3-2 (24-26, 25-23, 23-25, 25-19, 17-15) victory Saturday night to close out the Middle Tennessee Invitational.
Blazer players tied or broke career-highs across the board as Sam Serley posted 23 kills, Michelle Uzoh racked up 19 and Jordan McDonald finished with 17. Setter Alison Woods handed out a career-best 64 assists in the win.
Woods, who also managed 13 digs, and McDonald, who finished with 12 digs, posted their second double-doubles of the weekend. McDonald also served up five of UAB's eight aces on the night.
Libero Heather Thomas led all players in digs with 30, while Rachel Fairbanks made it four Blazers in double-digit digs with 10.
With the victory, UAB finished 1-2 at this weekend's tournament and improved to 3-6 on the season. Arkansas dropped to 6-5 with the loss.
After falling behind two sets to one with each of the first three frames decided by just two points, UAB evened things up with a 25-19 victory in the fourth set and then pulled out a tight, 17-15 fifth frame.
Serley came up big with seven kills in the decisive fifth set, accounting for nearly half of the UAB points. After Arkansas fought back from a 13-10 deficit to tie the set at 14-14 and again at 15-15, Serley put down back-to-back kills to finish off the Blazers' first five-setter of the year.
On the night, Serley hit for a .541 percentage, tallying her 23 kills on 37 attempts. Uzoh, in her second weekend back from injury, logged a .444 percentage with 19 kills in 36 swings. The Blazers finished the match hitting .259 as a team, their second-highest percentage of the year.
Arkansas attacker Jasmine Norton led all players with 29 kills, but she was the only Razorback to reach double-figures. Cassie Clark ran the Arkansas offense with 52 assists, while Brooke Fournier finished with a team-high 26 digs.
The one category where the Razorbacks held a significant advantage was blocks. Arkansas racked up 14 blocks, including 11 from Janeliss Torres, to five for UAB.
The Blazers will play their final non-conference action of the season next weekend at TCU's Nike Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas. UAB opens the event Friday at 11 a.m. against Ohio.
