The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers Look To Defend Title Against Tulsa Sunday Night
11/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 18, 2007
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• C-USA Championship Central
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. -- The UAB Blazers will play for the Conference USA Tournament championship for the second straight year on Sunday when they take on fourth-seeded Tulsa inside the Cam Henderson Center at 6:00 p.m. ET, a match that will be televised live nationally by CSTV. UAB, which is seeded third in the tournament, is a perfect 3-0 in matches on CSTV the past two seasons.
UAB earned the right to defend its title in the championship by beating Tulane, 3-1 (23-30, 30-26, 30-26, 30-16), in its semifinal match on Saturday. Senior Fernanda Domingos led the Blazers in that match by putting away 21 kills and making 11 digs to record her third double-double of the season.
The Blazers set a four-game superlative this season for total blocks against the Green Wave with 13.
Emotions ran high in Tulsa's semifinal showdown with host Marshall Saturday night. The Golden Hurricane, which lost to UAB 3-0 (30-23, 30-15, 36-34) earlier this season, beat Marshall, 3-2 (19-30, 34-32, 24-30, 32-30, 21-19), behind a 31-kill effort from Fabiola Nepomuceno.
"I was really happy with how we played against Tulane, they are a very talented team," said UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith. "We stuck around and watched the Tulsa match and wow did they compete. That was such a fun volleyball match to watch. I think it's very clear that Tulsa is here to win so we're going to have to play another outstanding match if we want to defend our title."
In UAB's victory over Tulsa earlier this season, junior Aleksandra Vujovic landed 19 kills and made 17 digs to lead UAB, while junior Casey Dent had 14 kills. Nepomuceno led the Golden Hurricane in that match with 17 kills.
One of the remarkable feats the Blazers have overcome in returning to the C-USA Tournament championship match is that they have done so without 2006 AVCA All-America honorable mention and Conference USA Tournament MVP Ivana Bozic.
"I still can't put into words how proud I am of what these girls have overcome this season," Messersmith said. "Everyone has picked up their play with Ivana being out. Nevena (Stefanov) is distributing the ball beautifully and players like Casey Dent and Fernanda Domingos have stepped up and played fantastically."
UAB is looking to earn the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. Last year, the Blazers earned the right to play in the NCAAs for the first time in program history, losing at No. 4 UCLA.
