The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
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UTEP
UAB Falls To UTEP In Home Finale
11/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 6, 2005
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Despite putting up better numbers than UTEP in nearly every statistical category, the UAB volleyball team dropped its third-straight match, a 3-1 decision to the Miners on Sunday afternoon at Bartow Arena. UTEP improves to 17-9 overall and 7-6 in Conference USA while the Blazers fall to 14-10, 5-8 in league play. Three UAB players notched double-doubles in the Blazers' final home match of the 2005 season.
Freshmen Ivana Bozic (23 kills, 12 digs, 6 service aces), Aleksandra Vujovic (22 kills, 22 digs) and Nevena Stefanov (65 assists, 11 digs) set the tone for the Blazers. Shaniquwa Cooper also added ten kills and Nicole Bowland led all players with 23 digs. UTEP's Kari Stacey had an outstanding match, combining for 23 kills and 19 digs.
"We had some good individual performances today," said UAB co-interim head coach Nikola Petrovic. "We just need to find a way to get a win and get back on track."
UTEP jumped out to an early lead with a 30-23 win in the opening frame. The Miners hit an outstanding .349 as a team, their best offensive effort of the match.
After the Blazers evened things up at one with a 30-26 win of their own in the second game, UTEP held on for an exciting, 31-29 victory in a back-and-forth game three. The Miners kept that momentum going, taking a big lead on UAB in game four before the Blazers clawed their way back. But UTEP would hold on, taking a 30-25 win and handing UAB its third-consecutive defeat.
The Blazers return to action next weekend with matches at Marshall and East Carolina. UAB squares off against the first-place Thundering Herd on Friday at 7 p.m. before finishing out the regular season against the Pirates on Sunday at 1 p.m.
