The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
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Florida State
UAB Travels to Tallahassee to take on FSU, FAMU
9/16/2022 12:36:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
BIRMINGHAM – After the trip to the Peach State, the UAB Volleyball team travels to the Sunshine State on Saturday, Sept. 17 and Sunday, Sept. 18, to take on the Florida State Seminoles and Florida A&M Rattlers. So far, the Blazers are 4-6 against both Tallahassee squads, spanning a total of three decades.
"When we made this schedule, we knew it was going to challenge us and we were going to have to show up every day," said Head Coach Betsy Freeburg. "This week particularly so with facing three previous conference champions on their home courts. Our goal is to continue to grow and be exposed to playing on people's home courts because come next week, while we have a defending C-USA Champion coming to Birmingham, we head to Charlotte for our first C-USA road match next Sunday."
UAB (4-6) vs. Florida State (7-3)
Sept. 17 | 1 p.m. | Tallahassee, Fla. | Tully Gym
WATCH (ACCNX) | LIVE STATS
SCOUTING THE SEMINOLES
The Seminoles came off a match to longtime rival, the No. 15/16 Florida Gators on Tuesday, where they were defeated 3-0. Despite this, the Seminoles are 7-3 overall and 4-0 at their home court, Tully Gym. This matchup will be long awaited, as the last meeting between these two teams came over three decades ago, where the Blazers defeated the Noles in a five-set match.
FSU brings an attack percentage of .270 to their opponents .166. Of their 490 kills spanning the season so far, nearly a fourth of them come from Sophomore outside hitter, Audrey Keonig. Koenig totals 101 kills so far in the 2022 season for the Noles and finished with a record 17 kills and 15 digs against Creighton in a five-set loss.
Of the three losses on FSU's record, they've only dropped 12 sets, and only hold one straight-set loss, coming from Florida on Sept. 13.
UAB (4-6) vs. Florida A&M (3-9)
Sept. 18 | 1 p.m. | Tallahassee, Fla. | Al Lawson Center
LIVE STATS
SCOUTING THE RATTLERS
FAMU closed out the 2021 season 25-7 overall, where they took on the likes of Florida State, Florida Gulf Coast and Auburn. In the meeting between the Rattlers and Tigers, FAMU would go on to take the win in a five-set thriller. The Rattlers went on to win the SWAC Championship before losing in the NCAA Tournament to Florida.
The defending SWAC Champs start the season 3-9, with their last three wins being over UNC Greensboro, Elon and North Carolina A&T. The Rattlers are heavy hitters in the attack category, totaling over 400 kills with 150 coming from Domonique Washington. Washington, who comes from Georgia Tech, was named SWAC Player and Newcomer of the Year and won SWAC Player of the Week 10 times.
QUOTES FROM BETSY FREEBURG
"It was great to be back home yesterday; we had some focused small group film sessions as well as a very intentional practice. We recognized that we had gone away from simple things in passing technique that we worked on and have seen improvements already. FSU is a physical team that is going to challenge us to figure out creative ways to score, especially out of system. Our goal is to create more opportunities in systems that will really pressure their defensive systems."
"With 24 hours in between matches and the midday match times, we will have time to do mobility sessions with our strength & conditioning coach as well as set treatment and rehab times with our athletic trainer. We also should be able to get refueled well after FSU and a good night's sleep going into the FAMU match"
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