The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Memphis
UAB Volleyball Loses at the Wire at Memphis
9/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 29, 2006
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The UAB volleyball team (13-5, 2-2 C-USA) went the distance with Memphis (16-2, 3-1 C-USA) for the second time in just over a week on Friday night, losing to the Tigers, 3-2 (19-30, 30-14, 30-26, 27-30, 15-10). Sophomore setter Nevena Stefanov led the Blazers with her second double-double of the season with a match-high 55 assists to go along with 14 digs.
Sophomore outside hitter Ivana Bozic led the Blazers offensive production with a double-double of her own, finishing with 17 kills and 14 digs. Junior outside hitter Fernanda Domingos also had a double-double against the Tigers with 15 kills and 10 digs. Freshman setter Aley Tallman finished with a career-high nine kills, while junior middle blocker Shaniquwa Cooper had eight kills on a .538 hitting performance.
Memphis was led by Shelly Burton who had a match-high 20 kills, while Melissa Nance was impressive offensively as well with 17 kills. Laura Cote had 49 assists for the Tigers, while Christen Clayton had 23 digs.
UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith was pleased with her team's play Friday night despite playing in front of a rowdy Memphis crowd.
"We played with a very high-level of intensity tonight," Messersmith said. "We lost to a really good Memphis team out there and their crowd was great. It's tough to win on the road in C-USA but I think we learned a lot from this match and now we'll go get ready for our three matches next week."
The Blazers went ahead 9-4 early in game one after Tallman put away her second straight kill from Stefanov. UAB continued to build its lead on Tallman's serve, going up 12-5 after a rare ball handling error by Memphis' Cote, who was averaging 12.97 assists per game entering the match. With the UAB lead growing to eight points, an attack error by Burton extended the Blazers lead to nine, 16-7.
Edging closer to winning their 16th game one victory in 18 matches, the Blazers got a service ace from Galvin to bring its lead to 21-12. The lead grew to 10 when a Bozic kill from Domingos made it 27-17 before the team eventually closed out the 30-19 victory following a kill by Dent and a Memphis ball handling error gave the Blazers the opening game.
Tallman led the Blazers with five kills on .444 hitting in game one, while Stafanov had an impressive 14 assists and seven digs.
Memphis came out in game two in defense of its home court, taking a 5-0 lead on a kill by Cote. Refusing to give up, the Tigers swelled their lead to 10-3 on a kill by Nance from Cote to force a UAB timeout. Memphis continued to pull away from the Blazers, taking a 20-7 lead on a Kori Smith ace as the Tigers went on to take game two, 30-14.
The Tigers put up impressive numbers in game two, hitting .571 on zero hitting errors after the Blazers hit .333 in game one with just three errors.
UAB answered early in the third game, taking a 4-0 lead after an ace by Dent. The Tigers did not go away, however evening the score at 4-4 following an error on Stefanov. Following the Tigers mini run, UAB again pulled ahead, as a Domingos kill gave the Blazers a 10-5 advantage. A Bozic kill off a Stefanov assist made it 14-9, however Memphis crawled back to 18-17 follow a kill by Sarah Bury.
Trying not to let the Tigers back into the game, the Blazers opened up another lead, 22-18. Once again it was Memphis' turn to make a charge, cutting the UAB lead to one, 23-22, after an attack error by Bozic who redeemed herself shortly thereafter by putting away her 10th kill of the match to put the Blazers ahead, 25-23. Inching closer to a game three victory and taking a 2-1 lead in the match, UAB expanded its lead to 29-25 on a kill by Dent. UAB then closed out the third game, 30-26, on a kill by Domingos from Stefanov.
Looking to force the second five-game match with the Blazers in just over a week, Memphis went up 12-8 after an attack error on Domingos. Trying to refrain from playing its third five-game match in its last four outings, UAB closed the gap to two, 15-13, after an attack error by Ashley Liford. Memphis would not let the Blazers back in the game, however taking a 23-15 lead after a Cote ace. UAB tried to sneak back into the game when a Domingos kill brought the Blazers to within three, 29-26, but it would not be enough as the Tigers forced a decisive fifth game with their 30-27 victory in game four.
The Blazers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in game five after Bozic put away back-to-back kills, her 16th and 17th of the match. Memphis came back and took a 6-5 lead on a Liford ace. Not going away, UAB regained its lead, 7-6, following an attack error on Burton. The Tigers then rallied to take a three-point lead, 11-8, on a Bury kill. Memphis continued to pull away, ultimately earning a 15-10 victory to win the match 3-2.
UAB will next be in action on Tuesday, Oct. 3 when it travels to take on Georgia State at 7 p.m.
