The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Memphis
Blazers Fall To Memphis, Back In Action Friday
9/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 18, 2008
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Playing at home for the first time this season, the UAB volleyball team dropped its Conference USA opener Thursday night to Memphis, 3-1 (25-22, 25-15, 14-25, 25-17).
Casey Dent paced the Blazers' offensive attack with 14 kills and a .244 hitting percentage, while setter Nevena Stefanov handed out 38 assists on the night. Ivana Bozic matched Aleksandra Vujovic for team-high honors in digs with 16 and also added 10 kills for her fourth double-double of the season.
UAB is back in action Friday at Noon against Alabama A&M in the first match of the UAB/Samford Invitational. The Blazers also play Friday at 7 p.m. against Florida International. Both matches will be played at Bartow Arena.
Fans can follow all matches Friday and Saturday at the Bartow Arena site by visiting UAB/Samford Invitational Tournament Central on the volleyball page at www.uabsports.com.
In Thursday's match, after losing the first two sets, UAB rebounded to win convincingly in the third. The Blazers, however, were unable to completely overcome the early deficit.
"For those first two sets, Memphis played extremely well, and we played very poorly," UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith said. "We went from making three or four errors a set last weekend to making 14 errors in one set tonight."
For the match, Memphis recorded a .242 hitting percentage compared to a .178 percentage for UAB.
Rebekah Strickland led three Memphis players in double-digit kills with 14, and setter Laura Cote dished out 46 assists for the Tigers. Emily Underwood tallied a match-high eight blocks for Memphis.
With the loss, UAB falls to 6-3 (0-1 C-USA), while Memphis improves to 7-3 (1-0 C-USA). The teams will meet again in Memphis, Tenn., on Nov. 16 in the Blazers' final conference match of the season.
