The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Volleyball Heads Into 2013 Season With New Look
8/27/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug 27, 2013
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB volleyball team will head into the 2013 season looking to finish with 20 wins for the third-straight year. The 2013 squad will bring a lot of fresh faces with the loss of five seniors from last year's squad.
"It will definitely be a different year losing the players that we lost," said Head Coach Kerry Messersmith. "We are obviously looking forward to the season starting. I do think we will surprise people this year. We were very fortunate to get two transfers that came in at Christmas time and both of those players will be big impacts for us. It lessens the loss of our seniors a little bit to be able to bring in players with good experience and that can make an impact."
Coming into the 2013 season the Blazers are returning eight players, three starters, including C-USA Freshman of the Year Sam Skinner. Skinner is the lone preseason pick for the All-C-USA Team for UAB. She totaled 253 kills last season, the second most on the team.
"Sam Skinner looks terrific right now," Messersmith remarked. "She has really matured as a player this preseason and we will look to her to be our go-to terminator on the left side."
Also back is starting libero Rachel Fairbanks, who earned second team All-C-USA after tallying 653 digs along with 25 service aces and 85 assists. Senior Ally Slaughter has been a consistent presence in the starting lineup her previous three seasons with the Blazers. She collected a team-high 28 service aces last season.
Returning at the setter position is Becca Howard, who saw plenty of action during the 2012 season and will run the offense for UAB. Howard recorded 459 assists in 129 set appearances last year.
Other returners include Kiriana Hirini, Lindsay Simmons, Mariah McCallum and Emma Schroer. All will have the opportunity to challenge for starting time during the 2013 season.
Transfers Bethanie Thomas and Sara Rishell will provide a lift for the Blazers as they fill holes left by the seniors. Rishell, a middle blocker, was the Patriot League Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year during her first season at American University. Thomas will join the outsider hitter group. A versatile player from South Carolina, she will be another go-to player for the Blazers.
Four freshmen round out the 2013 squad. Gabby Deshotel, Mandy Glon, Hannah Kowal and Amber Treace all can make an impact on the UAB volleyball program this season with this new-look team.
The 2013 season will open up with a home tournament for the Blazers. They will join Samford to host the UAB/Samford Volleyball Challenge that kicks off on Friday, Aug. 30.
"We are certainly excited to start the season at home," said Messersmith. "We were on the road four weekends in a row last year our first four weekends, so we are excited to have a tournament at home and really excited to be able to get a team like Minnesota to come. We are excited to have that kind of a caliber team in our gym."
The team will then hit the road for three other tournaments before beginning conference play with a host of new schools joining Conference USA. Messersmith believes the 2013 schedule will be a good challenge for this squad.
"It was difficult to really know what we were going to be like when we put our schedule together since we lost such a big senior class. We tried to put together the best schedule we could, knowing what we knew at the time. I certainly expect that every weekend we are going to be pushed and it is going to be a very competitive year in the conference."
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