The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
Western Michigan
UAB Volleyball Falls Saturday To Western Michigan
8/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 30, 2008
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The UAB volleyball team fell Saturday to Western Michigan on the second day of the Aquafina Invitational hosted by Florida. The Blazers fell 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-22).
Junior Savannah Pegg posted 11 kills to lead UAB for the second straight night. She has posted double-digit kills in both of the Blazers' first two matches this season and earned all-tournament team honors for her performance this weekend.
Senior Nevena Stefanov tallied a team-high 24 assists, while senior Ivana Bozic finished with nine kills and nine digs.
UAB (0-2) returns to action Friday with the first of three matches at the JSU Gamecock Invitational hosted by Jacksonville State. The Blazers open the event against Mississippi.
"We have a load of work to do in the next four days," UAB head coach Kerry Messersmth said. "We have a very tough weekend ahead of us and several things we have to work on."
In Saturday's loss, after dropping the first two sets, UAB jumped out to an early lead in the third set. Leading 4-2, the Blazers scored three straight points on a pair of Bozic kills and a block from Stefanov and Jordan McDonald to take a 7-2 lead. UAB led by as many as six at 9-3 following an ace from Bozic.
Western Michigan, though, started to chip away. The Broncos cut UAB's lead to 11-10 on a kill from Michelle Moore and later knotted the score at 13-13 on another Moore put away. UAB regained the lead and extended it to as many as three points at 19-16, but Western Michigan scored nine of the set's final 12 points. The Broncos' Jillian Mitchell put the match away with a kill on the final point.
Moore finished with 11 kills for Western Michigan (2-0), the defending Mid-American Conference West Champion. Ashley Vogl put down a match-high 14 kills for the Broncos.
In the first two sets, UAB stayed close early, but Western Michigan was able to pull away late. The second set was tied at 14-14 before the Broncos rattled off seven straight points to grab the advantage.
"For the second straight night, we had problems with our passing," Messersmith said. "If you can't pass the ball, you can't play the game. Our passing set the tone for the match and took us out of sync all night."
