The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Houston
Blazers Pick Up Conference Win Over Houston Friday
9/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 25, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Behind six blocks and a career-high 17 kills from Michelle Uzoh, the UAB volleyball team took down Houston, 3-1 (25-19, 25-23, 20-25, 25-22), Friday in Conference USA action at Bartow Arena.
Uzoh, a junior middle blocker from San Antonio, Texas, hit .438 for the match and was one of three Blazers in double-figure kills, joining Andrea Lalic and Sam Serley with 12 each. It was the first time in six matches a player other than Serley has led UAB in kills.
"Michelle was great both offensively and defensively," UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith said. "She was really on in both aspects of her game, and she gave Houston problems for a lot of the match.
"Our middles played very well again tonight, as they have all season, but we still need to improve our play on the outside if we are going to get better as a team."
UAB moved to 8-8 (2-0 C-USA) with Friday's win, while Houston dropped its opening league match to fall to 3-13 (0-1 C-USA). The Blazers are back in action Sunday at 1 p.m. CT at Bartow Arena with another conference match against Rice.
Lalic added 12 digs to her 12 kills Friday for her first double-double of the year, while setter Alison Woods compiled 45 assists and 11 digs for her sixth double-double.
UAB came out strong against Houston, hitting .263 in the opening set to .028 for the Cougars. Serley posted five of her kills in the first frame, and, after dropping the first point, the Blazers never trailed again. A block from Uzoh and Patty Paniagua midway through the set gave UAB its largest lead at 15-6, and the Blazers rode out a six-point margin to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
The second set was tighter with Houston holding a four-point advantage as late as 13-9. But UAB rallied to knot the score at 18-18 on a block from Uzoh and Woods. Another block on the next point, this one from Uzoh and Lalic, gave UAB a lead it would not lose, and yet another block from Serley and Jordan McDonald later finished the frame off and gave the Blazers a two-set advantage.
UAB managed five blocks as a team in the first set and four in the second on its way to 14 for the match, its second-highest total of the season. Serley finished with seven total blocks to lead all players.
Out of the intermission, UAB fell behind 14-7 in the third set. The Blazers rallied to within two points at 20-18, but Houston tallied five of the final seven points to win its only set of the night. Kinsey Cave had six of her match-high 22 kills in the frame and the Cougars posted a .182 attack percentage, their highest of the night.
Cave piled up seven more kills in the fourth set for Houston, but it wasn't enough to keep UAB from finishing out the match. The Blazers used a four-point spurt midway through the frame to take a 17-3 lead on a kill from McDonald. UAB built that lead to 23-18 before a late Houston run cut the lead to two at 24-22. But McDonald's ninth kill of the night on match point sealed the win.
In addition to Cave's kill total for Houston, the Cougars also had the match's dig-leader in Amanda Carson with 30. Heather Thomas led UAB in digs with 20.
With the victory, UAB snapped a three-match losing streak. The Blazers will look to build off the win Sunday against Rice when the team wraps up a three-match homestand.
