Volleyball Wins 500th Match in Program History at Tulane

Friday, October 27

New Orleans, La.

7:00 PM

UAB

Tulane

Fernanda Domingos finished with 20 kills against the Green Wave.

Volleyball Wins 500th Match in Program History at Tulane

10/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Oct. 27, 2006

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS, La. - The UAB volleyball team earned the program's 500th victory all-time in thrilling fashion Friday night as it snuck out a 3-2 (30-18, 25-30, 30-25, 27-30, 15-13) victory at Tulane. Junior outside hitter Fernanda Domingos had a remarkable performance against the Green Wave, finishing with 20 kills, while hitting an astounding .548.

The Blazers improve to 17-9 (5-6 C-USA) with their fourth straight win and take over seventh place in the standings. Tulane drops to 11-9 (7-4 C-USA).

Sophomore outside hitter Ivana Bozic led the team in kills with 24, while sophomore setter Nevena Stefanov added 62 assists to go with eight kills and five blocks. Stefanov hit an impressive .636 for the match.

Junior libero Brianna Galvin had a match-best 23 digs, while freshman libero Haylee Adkins had 12 digs. Sophomore middle blocker Casey Dent continued her stellar play with 11 kills and six blocks.

UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith said the victory was a great win for the program and the whole team is excited to be apart of the monumental win.

"This was such a good win for the program," she said. "We fought hard all night in all five games - it's just special to get this win."

Messersmith said there were simply too many great performances from her team in the match and that this was an all-around team effort.

"Nevena did great moving the ball around tonight and Fernanda was outstanding," she said. "For anyone to hit over .500 is phenomenal and she just did such a good job tonight. I could say something about each one of these girls because they all played so great."

Tulane was led by Sara Rodosevic who finished with a match-high 25 kills, while Ksenija Vlaskovic had 15. Bridget Wells contributed with 11 finishers.

UAB went up early in game one, taking a 12-10 lead on a Dent kill and then stretched its lead to five, 16-11, after another kill by Dent. The Blazers didn't stop there either, as they continued to add to their lead, taking a 20-14 edge on a Domingos put away.

Maintaining their distance, the Blazers went up 23-16 on another kill by Dent who then made another kill to give UAB a 28-17 lead. Back-to-back attack errors on the Green Wave gave UAB the 30-18 victory in game one.

Dent had six kills on six attack attempts in the opening game, while Bozic and Domingos each had five. Stefanov had 17 assists, while Galvin had five digs in the defensive effort. The Blazers hit an astounding .457 for the game.

The start of game two saw two of the top outside hitters in Conference USA get after it as three straight Bozic kills got UAB out in front, 3-0. Radosevic answered, finishing off back-to-back kills which then made it Bozic's turn, and she replied, with another kill to make it 4-2.

A Radosevic kill made it 4-3 but then another kill and then a service ace from Bozic made it 6-3. A series of errors on Tulane and kills from junior middle blocker Shaniquwa Cooper and Domingos made it 15-11 in favor of UAB.

The Green Wave cut the UAB lead down to two, however three straight aces from Domingos opened up a 21-15 UAB advantage. It was then that Tulane made its move, winning 10 straight points to take a 25-21 lead. That run would propel the Green Wave to a game two victory when a Rodosevic kill closed out the game 30-25 and evened the match at 1-1.

A pair of kills and back-to-back aces by Stefanov helped UAB regroup and take a 7-3 lead in game three. Shortly thereafter, kills by Dent and Stefanov increased the Blazers' advantage to 10-5. Continuing to hold their lead, the Blazers went up 17-12 on a ball handling error by the Green Wave.

Tulane tried to make its way back, however UAB continued to play towards closing out the game, taking a 28-20 lead on a kill by Domingos and then went up 29-21 after a service error by the Green Wave. After losing four straight points, UAB then closed out the game, 30-25, on a Domingos kill to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

UAB took its first lead of game four, 5-4, after a kill by Cooper and another Cooper kill extended the lead to two, 7-5. Tulane came back, however and built a 13-11 lead after a Rodosevic kill and then another Rodosevic put away made it 17-12.

Pushing forward, Tulane went up 22-16 on a Wells kill and then closed out the game, 30-27 to even the match at two-all and force a decisive fifth game.

UAB went up 3-1 early in game five after a service error on the Green Wave and then went up 5-2 on a kill by Domingos. A Stefanov service ace, followed by a Bozic kill pulled UAB ahead, 7-2, before Tulane made a move, winning four straight points to make it 7-6.

Once again it was UAB's turn as the Blazers went up 11-7 following kills from Domingos and Vujovic. Another Domingos kill made it 12-8 and then a Green Wave error brought up match-point for the Blazers at 14-11. Tulane was able to fight off two match-points but couldn't stay with the Blazers as a Bozic kill closed out the game, 15-13 to give UAB the 3-2 victory.