The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Volleyball Travels To Southern Miss, Rice
10/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
UAB (6-17, 3-5 C-USA) at Southern Miss (16-9, 5-3 C-USA)
Friday, Oct. 24, 2014 at 7 p.m. CT
Hattiesburg, Miss.
Coverage: Live Stats | Watch
UAB (6-17, 3-5 C-USA) at Rice (16-6, 6-2 C-USA)
Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014 at 1 p.m. CT
Houston, Texas
Coverage: Live Stats | Watch
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UAB volleyball team will travel to Southern Miss and Rice this weekend in Conference USA play. The Blazers and Golden Eagles will play Friday night at 7 p.m. CT, while UAB will take on the Owls at 1 p.m. CT on Sunday.
UAB (6-17, 3-5 C-USA) won its last two matches heading into the road weekend. Most recently, the Blazers defeated Marshall, 3-1, on the road last Friday. Sophomore Gabby Deshotel led the offense with 15 kills, while fellow sophomore Emma Schroer picked up a team-high 14 digs.
Fans can follow both matches on live stats and watch the live stream through the links above.
Series History
UAB and Southern Miss will continue their long history with the 45th meeting in the series on Friday. The two teams first met back in 1981 with the Blazers taking the win, 2-0. Last season’s match spanned five sets, with UAB earning the win, 3-2.
This will be the 17th meeting between UAB and Rice (16-6, 6-2 C-USA). The teams are tied at 8-8, with the winner Sunday taking the advantage in the series. Most recently, Rice took the win 3-0 in Birmingham on Nov. 15, 2013.
Scouting the Opposition
Southern Miss (16-9, 5-3 C-USA) enters the weekend having won four of its last five matches. The Golden Eagles most recently topped FIU, 3-2. As a team Southern Miss leads the conference in assists (13.27/set) and kills (14.10/set). Three players have over 200 kills on the season, led by Stephany Purdue’s 3.23 kills per set which ranks seventh in C-USA. Purdue is also second in the league with 31 aces on the season.
Rice (16-6, 6-2 C-USA) just had a five-match win streak snapped by a 3-2 loss to UTSA last Sunday. The Owls are second among the conference in hitting percentage (.260), opponent hitting percentage (.164), assists (13.10), kills (14.04) and digs (15.95). Sara Blasier is leading C-USA with 10.98 assists per set for Rice and Leah Mikesky is sixth in kills per set with an average of 3.39 this season. Rice also has three players ranked in the top 10 in hitting percentage. Defensively, Portia Okafor leads the league with 1.19 blocks per set.
Schroer Earns C-USA Defensive Player of the Week
Sophomore Emma Schroer started at libero for UAB in its last two matches. Schroer helped UAB to wins over Middle Tennessee and Marshall, recording 14 digs in both matches. She averaged 4.00 digs per set across the seven sets played.
Her efforts helped the UAB defense hold both opponents to under .200 hitting percentage. The Blue Raiders hit a .137 attack percentage, while the Thundering Herd was held to just a 0.69 clip.
For the latest news on Blazer sports, follow the UAB Athletics Twitter account: @UABathletics. For volleyball news, follow @UAB_VB.
