The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Florida Atlantic
Sand Volleyball Defeats FAU In Five, Falls To FSU
4/21/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Beach Volleyball
April 21, 2012
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. ---- The UAB volleyball team split a pair of matches on Saturday afternoon, falling to Florida State, 5-0, before rebounding to defeat Florida Atlantic, 3-2.
“We played really well in the second match,” head coach Hal Messersmith said. “In the first match, Florida State came out pretty hot and we struggled a bit. But, we beat a pretty good Florida Atlantic team and I’m happy with the way we played.”
The Blazers concluded their inaugural season with a record of 6-4 as the tandem of Kirsten Gallagher and Heather Thomas advanced to the AVCA Sand Championships, which are held from April 27-29 in Gulf Shores, Ala.
“Overall for our first season we played really well,” Messersmith said. “We figured out that we are going to need to use our indoor and sand practices in a more efficient way in the future. A lot of the programs, such as Florida State, are sand only, so to compete we are going to have to tweak our practices a little.
“I’m really proud of the girls because we competed with everyone that we played except for Florida State and Pepperdine, which is encouraging because they had a lot more experience in the sand and we did coming into the season. To finish 6-4 in our first season as a program is very exciting and hopefully we can build off our success for next season.”
Florida State 5, UAB 0
The Seminoles captured four of the five matches in straight sets and with the win over UAB and later against FAU improved to a perfect 15-0 on the season.
In the No. 5 doubles match, Michele Simmons and Becca Howard put forth a strong fight against Florida State’s McGregor and Yildirim. After falling 21-16 in the first set, the pair rebounded to win 21-17 in the second stanza. Unfortunately, the FSU couple was able to turn the tides back in its favor, claiming the deciding set, 15-4
Florida State 5, UAB 0
No. 1: Newgard/Tiegs (FSU) def. Thomas/Gallagher (UAB) – 21-9, 21-10
No. 2: Stepanova/Pardon (FSU) def. Fairbanks/Hirini (UAB) – 21-13, 21-10
No. 3: Djurdjevic/Pellitteri (FSU) def. Serley/McCallum (UAB) – 21-12, 21-7
No. 4: Kiley/Haworth (FSU) def. Slaughter/Morrell (UAB) – 21-10, 21-12
No. 5: McGregor/Yildirim (FSU) def. Simmons/Howard (UAB) – 21-16, 17-21, 15-4
UAB 3, FAU 2
The Blazers used critical wins from the No. 4 and No. 5 doubles teams to defeat FAU, 3-2 to conclude the 2012 season.
The Blazers and Owls split the No. 1 and No. 2 matchups, with Rachel Fairbanks and Kiriana Hirini earning a 2-1 victory by the score of 21-8, 17-21 and 15-9 as the second seeded pairing.
The match boiled down to the play of Ally Slaughter and Kate Morrell at the No. 4 spot and Simmons and Howard, positioned as the No. 5 team.
Both sets of players were able to dominate their opponent, winning in straight sets. Slaughter and Morrell earned a victory, 21-11 and 21-12, while Simmons and Howard were victorious by a 21-16 and 21-11 score.
UAB 3, FAU 2
No. 1: Marras Tate/Pizzocheri (FAU) def. Thomas/Gallagher (UAB) – 21-16, 21-13
No. 2: Fairbanks/Hirini (UAB) def. Sataric/Vega (FAU) – 21-8, 17-21, 15-9
No. 3: Arboleda/Stoll (FAU) def. Serley McCallum (UAB) – 18-21, 22-20, 15-11
No. 4: Slaughter/Morrell (UAB) def. Jones/Hatton (FAU) – 21-11, 21-12
No. 5: Simmons/Howard (UAB) def. Nightingale/Pereira (FAU) – 21-16, 21-11
