The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Marshall
Blazers Power Through Marshall And Into Semifinals
11/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 21, 2008
C-USA Volleyball Championship Central
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Nevena Stefanov handed out 46 assists in just three sets Friday as the UAB volleyball team earned a 3-0 (25-13, 25-22, 25-17) victory over Marshall in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Volleyball Championship.
With the win, the Blazers advanced to the semifinals, where they play Saturday at 4 p.m. CT against No. 3 seed Rice, a 3-0 quarterfinal round winner over UTEP. Fans can follow the match online with All-Access streaming video and Gametracker live stats through C-USA Volleyball Championship Central at www.conferenceusa.com.
The second-seeded Blazers (24-5) powered past No. 10 seed Marshall (13-15) on Friday with a balanced offensive attack. Four UAB players finished with nine kills or more, led by Lilly Domingos with 14. Andrea Lalic added 13 kills, followed by Ivana Bozic with 12 and Jordan McDonald with nine.
"I am very happy with the way our kids played tonight," UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith said. "I think Nevena did a great job of distributing the ball. We've been in a little bit of a funk in the last couple of weeks, and tonight was the first night in quite a while that the kids came out with a lot of emotion and a lot of heart. That's what we strive to do. That's what our program is all about."
In the opening set, UAB grabbed the first four points and controlled play from the start. The Blazers gradually built a double-digit lead, expanding their advantage to 10 points at 18-8 on a Domingos kill. UAB built its lead to 11 points on two occasions before three consecutive kills from Bozic, Dent and Stefanov finished off the set at 25-13. Domingos posted seven kills in the opening frame.
The second set was back-and-forth in the early going. Tied at 11-11, UAB went on a four-point run. A McDonald kill, a Marshall error and two kills from Lalic gave the Blazers a 15-11 lead and forced a Thundering Herd timeout. From there, Marshall chipped away, cutting the UAB lead to two on five occasions before finally narrowing the gap to one at 21-20 on a kill from Kristin Marcum. Still leading by one at 22-21, the Blazers then tallied three of the final four points and finished things off at 25-22 on Lalic's eighth kill of the set.
In the third set, UAB led throughout before opening up a big lead late. After a four-point Marshall run cut UAB's 16-9 lead to 16-13, the Blazers responded to close the match on a 9-4 run. A kill from Bozic finished things off a 25-17 to send UAB on to the semifinals.
Defensively, Aleksandra Vujovic led UAB with 13 digs as the Blazers out-hit Marshall .355 to .198. As a team, UAB totaled 56 kills to 36 for the Thundering Herd.
Jalicia Ross led Marshall with 12 kills, and Elizabeth Fleming ran the Thundering Herd offense with 33 assists. Megan Carlson finished with 14 digs for Marshall.
Saturday's match against either Rice or UTEP will mark UAB's third consecutive appearance in the C-USA Championship semifinals.
"We're going to do the same thing that we've been doing," Messersmith said. "I think the kids are going to come away tonight with a lot of confidence. They know they have a tough road ahead of them regardless who wins, Rice or UTEP. We're going to get the kids mentally focused and ready to go tomorrow."
