UAB Closes Out the Weekend 1-1

Saturday, September 1

Martin, TN

1:00 PM

UAB

5-1

Tennessee aMartin

3-3

UAB

UT Martin

UAB Closes Out the Weekend 1-1

9/1/2018 9:35:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 UAB vs. UT Martin Box Score UAB vs. Memphis Box Score Skyhawk Invitational Stats 2018 Season Stats

MARTIN, Tenn. – After playing four matches in 48 hours, the UAB volleyball heads back to Birmingham after going 3-1 during the Skyhawk Invitational and improving to 5-2 overall on the year.

The Blazers put three players on the Skyhawk Invitational All-Tournament team in Shelby Holderfield, Abby Carlile and Emma Mitchell. Holderfield was named tournament MVP for her efforts in running the UAB offense.

Over the four matches, Holderfield put up 174 assists and averaged 11.6 assists per set. The Huntsville, Ala. native added 10 kills and four service aces to her weekend totals.

"Every team we faced were gritty defenders and made it hard on us to score," head coach Amy Pauly said. "Shelby was fantastic at moving the ball and finding the right hitters at the right time."

Outside hitters Carlile and Mitchell benefitted from Holderfield's court vision as they had monster weekends. Carlile racked up 54 kills, had a .372 hitting percentage and averaged 3.60 kills per set. Meanwhile, Mitchell scored 48 kills and averaged 3.20 kills per set.

"It was a successful weekend overall," Pauly said. "After our opening weekend we set goals on what we needed to improve on as a group and I certainly think we hit those goals. Abby had a breakout weekend for us and learned how she can completely take over a match and make it tough for the opponents to stop her. I am proud of the wins we picked up, but we know there is still a lot of room for improvement and our goal is to be playing our best volleyball in November."

Match One: UAB at UT-Martin (24-26, 25-20, 25-19, 25-21)

After dropping the first set 24-26, UAB cranked up the offense and hit .357 percent in the second set to win it 25-20. Errors were the main story in the third set as neither team hit well but the Green and Gold took the third 25-19.

The Blazer offense found its grove again in the third and won the set 25-21 and took the match 3-1.

Mitchell tied her career high with 15 kills in the match while Carlile tallied 14. Redshirt sophomore Alex Kells totaled 12 kills and lead the team in digs with 13 against UT-Martin.

The Skyhawks (3-3) were led by Megan Fair who scored 15 kills while Brooke Gyori had 22 digs and Kenzie Hinshaw led the way with 28 assists.

Match Two: UAB vs. Memphis (21-25, 24-26, 19-25)

Playing in its final match of the weekend, the Blazers played well but the Memphis offense came out on fire hitting .475 percent in the opening set, winning it 25-21. UAB's defense slowed down the Tigers in the second set but it wasn't enough as the Green and Gold dropped the second 24-26.

Memphis (3-5) cranked up its offense again in the third set, hitting .417 percent to win 25-19 and take the match in straight sets. Hannah Flowers and Kelsea Bivins tallied double digit kills with 19 and 14, respectively.

Kells led the Blazers with 10 kills while freshman Brianna Muller picked up 19 digs in the match.

The loss ends UAB's five game winning streak which began on August 25 with wins over SIUE and Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Up Next

UAB will play its lone non-conference game in the state of Alabama on Tuesday night when it travels to Montgomery, Ala. to square off with Alabama State. The match is slated to start at 7 p.m.