The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
-01,00 CUSA
Xavier
1-0,0-0Big East
Blazers Drop Season Opener Matches in Buffalo
8/26/2022 8:45:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
BUFFALO – The UAB Volleyball team fell in its season opener to Xavier 3-2 before going on to lose to tournament host Buffalo later on Friday evening 3-1 at the Buffalo invite in Alumni Arena.
MATCH 1: UAB 2, Xavier 3 (25-11, 25-21, 18-25, 21-25, 9-15)
UAB finished with Alex Kells, Maia Rackel and Fernanda Maida seeing double-digit kills on the statline. Collectively, the Blazers finished with a total of 60 kills in the first match.
The Blazers started the first two sets on a high note. UAB took the first set 25-11, starting the day on the offensive front with 41 attack attempts and 15 kills to Xavier's 35 attempts and six kills.
Xavier responded in the second set, keeping the score margin within single digits, however, UAB kept the pace going taking the second set and jumping out to a 2-0 lead. By the end of the second set, the Blazers hitting percentage doubled that of the Musketeers.
The following set mirrored the previous, with the Musketeers keeping the score close throughout the duration of the competition. Xavier tied the score 6-6 with a service ace from Lucia Corsaro before pulling away with a 25-18 win in the third set.
The Musketeers went on to take the lead and the victory in sets four and five, winning 25-21 and 15-9 respectively. Xavier flipped their hitting percentage from -.029 in the first set to .222 in the final set.
Stat leaders for the Blazers include Fernanda Maida with 18 kills, Kiana Mack with three aces, Chloe Rodriguez with four blocks and Erin Powers with 18 digs.
MATCH 2: UAB 1, Buffalo 3 (25-15, 16-25, 20-25, 21-25)
The evening matchup against tournament host Buffalo saw the Blazers jump out early with a 10-point win over the Bulls. UAB out-hit Buffalo .333 to .132 and took advantage of errors made on the Bulls' end. Buffalo saw seven errors to UAB's one in the first set.
The second set saw a momentum shift from Buffalo, who went on a 3-0 run early, getting in front of UAB 7-3. The Bulls gradually pushed to a 13-5 lead before the Blazers responded with a kill from Lidya Canturk and advancing off attack errors from Buffalo. The Bulls then jumped out to a nine-point lead and secured set two.
Sets three saw similar results, with the Bulls taking an early lead before the Blazers halted the progress. In set three, UAB trailed by as much as eight points and got within as close as two before Buffalo finished with back-to-back kills from Emma Geilas.
Set four saw efforts from freshman Jay Collins, with two kills to keep the score close. The Blazers took an 8-6 lead after a kill from Kiana Mack and two errors, forcing a timeout from Buffalo. The final set saw six lead changes before the Bulls secured the set and match with a 25-21 victory.
QUOTE FROM COACH FREEBURG
Efforts from freshman Jay Collins would not go unnoticed by Coach Betsy Freeburg, who spoke highly of the Peachtree, Georgia native. "Today was a tough day," She said. "We struggled getting all six players playing together at the same time. We had some players bounce back well from match one to match two, and Jay Collins had a great first match in the green & gold. We're looking forward to recovering tonight and getting back to competing on the court tomorrow."
UP NEXT
The Blazers return to tournament action tomorrow morning against the Cleveland State Vikings at 10 a.m.
For more information on the UAB Volleyball Team, follow @UAB_VB on Twitter and Instagram.
