The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Southern Miss
Volleyball Stuffs Southern Miss In Four-Set Victory
10/2/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 2, 2011
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ---- The UAB volleyball team posted a Conference USA season-high 19 total blocks to push the Blazers past Southern Miss, 3-1 (16-25, 25-20, 25-11, 25-22) on Sunday afternoon at the Reed Green Coliseum. The win marked the 11th in a row for the Green and Gold to stay a perfect 5-0 in league play, 15-2 overall.
The Blazers received a boost off the bench, after dropping the first stanza to Southern Miss (7-9, 1-3 C-USA), 25-16. Head coach Kerry Messersmith called on outside hitter Thais Soares and middle blocker Kiriana Hirini, and the pair delivered.
Soares entered in the second frame and connected for a team-best four kills on 11 swings to aid in tying the match with a 25-20 victory. She ended the night with a season-best kills total of nine, along with a 14-dig effort to the box score.
Following the match intermission, coach Messersmith pulled the right strings again, calling on Hirini to play in the middle. The move paid great dividends as Hirini recorded and astounding six blocks in the stanza to help hold the Golden Eagles offense to a -.132 hitting percentage and cruise to a 25-11 set win.
"Kiri went in and gave us a spark in the third game," Messersmith said. "Her play really woke us up as a team and her blocking overall was exceptional."
Leading 2-1 in the match and the score tied at 21 in the fourth, Sam Serley made her presence known on the court. In a frame that featured 10 ties and five lead changes, Serley recorded a kill along with two blocks to ignite a 4-1 rally to claim the set and the match.
"It's exciting the kind of depth we have as a team," Messersmith said. "We brought in Thais and Kiri, who don't play a whole lot and they did an outstanding job. They really gave us a spark when we needed it and they played fantastic."
On the afternoon, Hirini finished with eight blocks (three solo, five assists) and a pair of kills to her stat line.
Others that prevented attacks on the Blazers included Serley (eight blocks, four solo), Ashley Ricks (seven blocks, two solo), Kate Morrell (two blocks), Soares (two blocks) along with Kirsten Gallagher and Michele Simmons each added a block assist for a team total of 19.
Three players posted double-doubles, in Alison Woods, Becca Howard and Morrell.
Woods and Howard did their normal duties of sharing the setter slot in the lineup. In the second set alone, Woods recorded nine of her career-high 18 digs, while she dished out 21 helpers. Howard contributed 14 assists and 11 digs, while Morrell rocketed a team-best 14 kills with 11 digs on the day.
Guiding the defense in the back row was libero Heather Thomas with 22 digs, moving her into 10th place in C-USA history with 1,826 for her career.
Southern Miss, which was held to a .072 attacking clip for the match, received double-doubles from Kelsea Seymour (36a, 14d) and Amelia Hendrickson (12k, 12d).
NEXT UP: The Blazers head to Orlando, Fla. to play a pair of matches against the UCF Knights. The first match is slated for Friday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. ET, with the two squads meeting the following evening at 8 p.m. ET.
