The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers Face SMU In C-USA Tournament First Round
11/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 15, 2005
UAB Volleyball C-USA Tournament Notes in PDF Format
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB volleyball team heads to Houston this week for the 2005 Conference USA Volleyball Tournament hosted by Rice University. All 12 C-USA teams will participate in the event which begins on Thursday, Nov. 17. The Blazers (14-12, 5-10 C-USA) are the No. 10 seed and will square off against No. 7 SMU (12-15, 8-7 C-USA) at 8 p.m. CT Thursday at Autry Court in the final first-round match of the day. The match can be followed live with Gametracker at www.uabsports.com.
UAB has dropped five-straight matches and eight of its last nine, heading into Thursday's first-round showdown with the Mustangs. The Blazers fell in their final two regular season matches last weekend, both on the road. Regular season conference champion Marshall handed UAB a 3-0 loss on Friday evening in Huntington, W. Va., before East Carolina finished off the Blazers in four games on Sunday afternoon in Greenville, N.C. Freshman Ivana Bozic contributed double-doubles in each match while Aleksandra Vujovic put away a team-best 27 kills in the two contests combined.
Bozic leads the team with 4.47 kills-per-game while Vujovic ranks second on the squad in kills-per-game (3.05), hitting percentage (.265) and digs-per-game (2.76). Freshman Casey Dent's .308 attack percentage is tops on the team and ranks in the conference's top-ten. Freshman Nevena Stefanov leads the Blazers with 12.51 assists-per game, sophomore Nicole Bowland averages a team-best 3.28 digs-per-contest, and sophomore Shaniquwa Cooper leads the way in the front row for UAB with 1.07 blocks-per-game.
UAB will be making its first tournament appearance since 2003, and holds a 3-8 all-time record in the event. The Blazers' last C-USA Tournament victory came in 1999 when 12th-seeded UAB knocked off No. 5 seed Saint Louis, 3-1 in the first round of competition at The Sun Dome in Tampa, Fla.
SMU finished off its regular season with a 3-0 sweep of Tulane on Sunday, snapping a four-match losing streak and assuring the Mustangs of the No. 7 seed in the tournament. Rachel Giubilato leads SMU with 3.69 kills-per-game and 3.96 digs-per-contest while Natalie Peters leads the league with 1.41 blocks-per-game and has added over 300 kills on the season. SMU prevailed with a 3-2 win over the Blazers on Oct. 21 in Dallas in the first-ever meeting between the teams.
Complete coverage of the 2005 Conference USA Volleyball Tournament can be found on the conference website at www.conferenceusasports.com
2005 Conference USA Volleyball Tournament Schedule
Thursday, Nov. 17, 2005
Match 1- (9) UCF vs. (8) Memphis- 1 p.m.
Match 2- (12) Southern Miss vs. (5) East Carolina- 3 p.m.
Match 3- (11) Tulane vs. (6) Rice- 6 p.m.
Match 4- (10) UAB vs. (7) SMU- 8 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 18, 2005
Match 5- (1) Marshall vs. (9) UCF/(8) Memphis- 1 p.m.
Match 6- (4) UTEP vs. (12) Southern Miss/(5) East Carolina- 3 p.m.
Match 7- (3) Tulsa vs. (11) Tulane/(6) Rice- 6 p.m.
Match 8- (2) Houston vs. (10) UAB/(7) SMU- 8 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 19, 2005
Match 9- Winner of Match 5 vs. Winner of Match 6- 5 p.m.
Match 10- Winner of Match 7 vs. Winner of Match 8- 7 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 20, 2005
Match 11- Championship Match (CSTV)- 4 p.m.
