The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Volleyball Hits The Road To Close Out Regular Season
11/8/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 8, 2012
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The UAB volleyball team will close out the regular season with a pair of road matches, starting on Friday in Orlando, Fla., against UCF. The match is slated for 5 p.m. CT. The Blazers will then travel to Southern Miss for a Sunday showdown at 1 p.m. CT in Hattiesburg, Miss.
UAB (18-12, 10-4 C-USA) | UCF (12-14, 9-5) | Southern Miss (8-18, 4-10)
The two remaining regular season matches for UAB have heavy implications on seeding at the Conference USA Tournament, hosted by Tulsa, from Nov. 16-18. UAB currently sits in third place in the league standings and could climb as high as second, but could also drop as low as fifth. The top eight teams in the conference advance to the single-elimination tournament.
UAB Scouting Report
The Blazers recorded two more home victories last weekend, defeating East Carolina and Marshall, to finish the regular season home slate at 10-1.
The tandem of Rachel Fairbanks and Sam Serley were recognized by the Conference USA office for their strong play, earning the league’s weekly defensive and offensive player of the week awards.
Fairbanks averaged 7.17 digs, including a 25-dig effort vs. Marshall, while Serley hit .633 for the weekend and averaged 2.17 blocks per set.
Milestones In Reach
Sam Serley is closing in on being the all-time blocks leader in UAB history. The senior has totaled 534 swats during her time in Green and Gold and is just 14 away from breaking Hilary Beck’s 547 total set back in 1992.
Serley is also nearing the single season block record at UAB, rejecting 155 attacks. The single season mark is 175 set by Julie Myers back in 1989.
Also putting her mark on the UAB record book is junior libero Rachel Fairbanks. The Katy, Texas native has 569 digs for the season, the fifth most in program lore. She is 63 digs shy of breaking Heather Thomas’ school record of 631 set last season.
UAB 3, UCF 2 (10/14/12)
The Blazers held a commanding 2-0 lead, but the Knights fought back to force a fifth set. However, UAB was able to prevail hitting .333 in the final frame, while UCF committed more errors than kills in the deciding set.
Sam Serley was a force, hitting .441, connecting for 17 kills and stonewalling the UCF attack with seven blocks.
UCF libero Meredith Murphy totaled 42 digs in the back row.
UAB 3, Southern Miss 0 (10/12/12)
Kirsten Gallagher and Sam Skinner each reach double digit kills, while Rachel Fairbanks corralled 24 digs as the Blazers earned a three-game sweep against Southern Miss.
