The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
-68,11 CUSA
Charlotte
-68,02 CUSA
Maida Hits Milestone in Blazers' Win Over 49ers
9/25/2022 4:33:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
CHARLOTTE – The UAB Volleyball team (6-8, 1-1 C-USA) closed out their match against the Charlotte 49ers (6-7, 0-2 C-USA) with a straight set win in Halton Arena on Sunday. The Blazers now split their conference record at one apiece.
"We stayed really tough when things weren't going our way and the team fought to stay together," said head coach Betsy Freeburg. "We served really aggressively and that gave our team confidence to continue being patient and taking advantage of opportunities to score."
In the first set, the Blazers trailed the 49ers 5-10, but started to rally back from a series of kills from Alex Kells and Chloe Rodriguez to put the Green and Gold within two points. UAB then started to gain momentum off of the errors made from Charlotte. Another kill from Kells put the Blazers ahead before Charlotte's Emani Foster responded with a kill of her own to tie it up; but UAB sought out a 4-0 run to take set one 25-23.
The second set was all Blazers, who marched forward from the energy seen in the latter half of the previous set. Freshman Kelsey Smith delivered a pair of kills to put UAB up by three; a series of attack errors extended the score to 14-9. Later down the line, the 49ers responded with a run of their own, capitalizing off of errors to tie the score at 17 apiece. However, the run would be short-lived, as Maia Rackel and Kells delivered kills to put UAB up by three. The dagger to close set two would come from Kiana Mack, to give the Blazers a 25-21 win.
The final set saw an early lead from the Blazers, but the 49ers looked to stay in close quarters. UAB held a solid three-point lead, but Charlotte started to gain the edge with another kill from Foster. Fernanda Maida responded with a kill of her own to give her the 1,000th career kill for the senior. The Blazers maintained the lead for the entirety of the set reaching match point… but the 49ers held on, getting within three points with a kill, capitalizing off an error and adding another kill. This would not be enough, as the 15th and final kill from Kells gave UAB the 25-21 win and match.
The match saw a total of 17 ties and 4 lead changes. The Blazers finished with an attack percentage of .391 to Charlotte's .239. UAB also finished with 45 kills to the 49ers 39. Stat leaders for the Blazers included Alex Kells, who led with 15 kills. Erin Powers also finished the day with 13 digs for the Green and Gold and four aces. Maia Rackel totaled five blocks.
QUOTES FROM COACH FREEBURG
"This was a big road win for us! We are going to return home and look to continue building off our success both offensively and from the service line."
"We have been focusing on having an efficient side out, and our offense. For the team to come out and hit .391 displays a tremendous team effort."
"We knew going into today that Fern was 3 kills away. Reaching the 1,000-kill milestone is a testament to her hard work and it's really special to be a small part of it."
QUOTES FROM FERNANDA MAIDA
"Reaching 1,000 kills throughout my volleyball career means so much to me because it allows me to show that hard work truly does pay off. Having the right tribe pushing and fighting beside me is key to making us the best we can be."
"It is also very exciting because I will always do my best to represent the people from my home country wherever I go, and this helps me show all the younger volleyball players there that they're capable of doing big things with the right mindset. But mainly, I couldn't have done any of it without my teammates and coaching staff. I am so grateful for all their support and confidence in me, and I will keep working my hardest to do my best for the team."
UP NEXT
The Blazers return home to take on Middle Tennessee on Friday, Sept. 30 in Bartow Arena at 7 p.m.
Purchase the 2022-23 Gold Card for $65 here. The 2022-23 Gold Card will get you access to all home events for Women's Soccer, Men's Soccer, Volleyball, Women's Basketball, Softball, and Baseball (Regions Field & Young Memorial). This card is not valid for Conference USA or NCAA Championship events.
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