The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Volleyball Travels To UCF And Southern Miss This Weekend
10/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 25, 2007
Match Notes
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB volleyball team looks to regroup from having its nine match winning streak snapped against Rice last weekend when it travels to play at UCF and Southern Miss this weekend. The Blazers enter the weekend in a tie with Memphis for fourth place in the Conference USA standings.
With just three weekends of Conference USA regular season play remaining, every match will be crucial, as five teams are separated by two matches or less heading down the stretch. Tulsa (20-5, 8-2 C-USA) is the defending regular season champion, while UAB (17-7, 7-3 C-USA) is the defending tournament champion.
"Last weekend's loss against Rice really hurt," said UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith. "But I think we learned that we can't come out and go through the motions and still expect to win. We have to come ready to play every day and I expect the girls to come out with more emotion this weekend and get back on track."
UAB has seen a shift in offensive distribution as of late with Fernanda Domingos, Casey Dent and Lilly Domingos all seeing a rise in their offensive output. Domingos has averaged 3.57 kills per game through the team's last five matches, while Dent has averaged 3.12 kills per frame and Lilly has averaged 2.14, all higher than their total season averages.
Ivana Bozic leads the team on the year with 4.35 kills per game, but due to the Blazers' ability to spread the ball around as of late, she has averaged 3.80 kills per game through the last five matches, still a team-high.
In addition to Lilly's spike in kills, the 6-4 middle blocker has also stepped up her defensive play as she ranks seventh in Conference USA and leads the team with 1.10 blocks per game.
Nevena Stefanov is UAB's floor general and ranks third in C-USA in assists per game with 12.35.
Brianna Galvin's digs per game average is up to 4.07 per game, which has her poised to move up to second place all-time at UAB in career digs as 43 more will tie her with Melissa Cobb at 1,533.
UCF enters Friday's match with a record of 9-16 (0-10 C-USA) after losing, 3-1 (26-30, 30-28, 21-30, 26-30), against UTEP last Sunday, despite Erin Campbell recording her seventh double-double of the season.
Campbell leads the Knights this season with 3.05 kills and 2.51 digs per game averages. Stephanie Serna is also a UCF threat, averaging 3.02 kills per game.
UAB beat UCF, 3-0 (30-16, 31-29, 30-18), earlier this season in Bartow Arena. Bozic led the Blazers in that match with 10 kills and 12 digs.
The series between the Blazers and the Knights is tied, 5-5.
Southern Miss brings its 10-16 (1-9 C-USA) record into this weekend after losing at Tulane last Sunday, 3-0 (30-17, 30-24, 30-22).
Morgan Johnson leads the Golden Eagles with 3.10 kills per game to go along with 0.98 blocks per game. Ashley Petrinec ranks second on the team with 2.73 kills per game, which she couples with 2.76 digs per frame.
Golden Eagle libero Maia Ivanova ranks amongst the Conference USA elite with 4.22 digs per game.
UAB won its previous meeting with Southern Miss this season, 3-2 (21-30, 24-30, 30-27, 30-13, 15-11). Fernanda and Bozic each had 15 kills in that contest, while Johnson led Southern Miss with her match-high 20 kills.
UAB leads the all-time series with Southern Miss, 16-15.
