The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
UCF
Volleyball Wins Again to make it Three Straight
10/22/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 22, 2006
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.-- The UAB volleyball team cruised to its third straight victory Sunday afternoon, shutting out UCF, 3-0 (30-19, 30-19, 30-25) behind a standout performance from sophomore middle blocker Casey Dent who finished with 11 kills on .500 hitting, six digs, five aces and four block assists. The Blazers improve to 17-9 (4-6 C-USA) on the year, while the Golden Knights are now 5-16 (1-9 C-USA).
Sophomore outside hitter Ivana Bozic had an impressive day on Sunday with 17 kills on .308 hitting to go along with six digs, while Sophomore setter Nevena Stefanov finished with 42 kills and seven digs. Her assists total against the Golden Knights moves her to sixth all-time at UAB in career assists as she now has 2,416 for her career.
Junior libero Brianna Galvin led the team's defensive effort with 10 digs, while five others finished with five or more.
UCF was led by Maina Heming who finished with 10 kills and five digs. Stephanie Serna was second on the team with nine kills to go with six digs and four block assists.
UAB went down 10-8 early on after a kill by Heming, however surrendered the advantage after three straight errors against the Golden Knights gave UAB a 14-11 lead. The Blazers capped off a run of winning 11 of 12 points on a kill by junior middle blocker Shaniquwa Cooper, making it 20-12.
UAB did not look back from there, pulling away to take the game, 30-19, on an unassisted kill by Bozic.
Game two remained close early on with the teams playing to a 10-10 tie after a kill by Bozic. It was then that the Blazers made their move, winning six of the next seven points to take a 16-11 lead after an error on UCF and then maintained their five-point lead when a kill by junior outside hitter Fernanda Domingos made it 20-15.
Five points was as close as the Blazers allowed the Golden Knights to get the remainder of the game as UAB went up, 29-18, on a Bozic kill and then closed out the game, 30-19, on another kill by Bozic.
After taking a 2-0 lead into the intermission, UAB came out and showed no signs of letting up, opening up an 11-5 lead on an attack error by UCF. The Golden Knights did not go away, however, as they came back to take the lead, 19-18, after an attack error on the Blazers.
The UCF was would be short-lived as the Blazers rallied to win five straight points to take a 23-19 lead after back-to-back kills by Bozic. The Golden Knights hung tough, but couldn't find away to overtake the Blazers, as UAB closed out the third game, 30-25, fittingly, on a kill by Dent to earn the 3-0 match victory.
The Blazers will return to the court when they travel to play at Tulane on Friday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m.
