The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
East Carolina
Volleyball Sinks Pirates In Three
11/18/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 18, 2011
GREENVILLE, N.C. ---- The UAB volleyball team swept the ECU Pirates, 3-0 (25-14, 25-23, 25-17) on Friday night in Conference USA action at Minges Coliseum.
The Blazers improved to 22-8 overall on the season and 12-6 in conference play. UAB is just one win shy of tying the school record for C-USA wins in a year, which was accomplished in 2008.
Senior libero Heather Thomas recorded a team-best 11 digs in the contest and moved into fourth place on the all-time digs list in C-USA history and has now totaled 2,081 in her time in Green and Gold.
The UAB offense featured a balanced attack with five players with five-or-more kills, led by Kate Morrell’s 11 on the night. As a team, the Blazers finished with a team attacking percentage .301, nailing down 41 kills on 93 attacks with 13 errors.
The Blazers defense held ECU (2-25, 0-18 C-USA) to a .120 attacking clip as no Pirate attacker had more than seven kills in the match.
The Blazers steamrolled pasted the Pirates through the first set, 25-14, hitting .500 as a club. The second set was not as favorable for UAB as the visitors hit just .136, but were able to escape with a two-point set victory, 25-23. However, the Blazers got back on track in the third stanza hitting .407 to cruise to the three-set victory.
“The girls did a nice job coming out in the third set regaining their focus and intensity,” head coach Kerry Messersmith said. “Kirsten [Gallagher] had a great game for us in the middle and it was great to see her step up.”
Gallagher added an impressive outing at the middle blocker position, slamming home eight kills on 11 attacks for a match-best .727 hitting clip. She contributed three digs and two blocks to her stat line.
UAB is back on the court on Sunday at 12 p.m. CT in Huntington, W.Va. against the Marshall Thundering Herd.
