UAB Volleyball Team Cruises To 3-0 Sweep Of Memphis In Final Home Match
Blazers now head to Memphis for season finale Saturday against Tigers
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB volleyball team powered its way to a 3-0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-19) victory over Memphis in its home finale Wednesday night as libero Heather Thomas inched closer to the program’s single-season digs record.
Thomas tallied 13 digs in the victory and now owns 586 on the season, tying her total from last year, which ranks second in school history. The junior from Madison, Ala., needs just seven digs in the Blazers’ final match to break Brianna Galvin’s 2006 school-record total of 592.
UAB (12-19, 9-10 C-USA) makes the return visit to Memphis (16-15, 7-12 C-USA) to close out the 2010 season Saturday at 7 p.m. CT. With a victory, the Blazers could finish as high as fifth in the final Conference USA standings.
In Wednesday’s win, the Blazers out-killed the Tigers by seven (36-29) and made 11 fewer errors (24-13) in 19 fewer attempts (118-99). UAB also racked up 12 team blocks, its highest total in a three-set match this year.
Kirsten Gallagher was a part of a career-best six of those blocks for UAB, while Michelle Uzoh was in on five. Gallagher has now recorded 17 total blocks in the past four matches. Offensively, the Blazers featured a balanced attack with six players posting at least four kills, led by Kate Morrell with nine.
“We really had a nice contribution from all of our hitters,” UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith said. “I thought we did a nice job taking care of the ball and not making a lot of errors. We’re getting better and better at taking care of the ball, and we’ve come such a long way since the beginning of the season.
“It was also a strong blocking performance for us tonight, especially by Kirsten. She’s gotten a chance over the past couple of weeks to show what she can do, and she’s been a big key for us.”
Morrell also had 11 digs as one of three Blazers to reach double-digits along with Thomas (13) and Alison Woods (12). Woods had 13 assists for a double-double, and fellow setter Becca Howard also managed 13 assists.
Marija Jovanovic led Memphis with 12 kills and Altrese Hawkins added nine, but no other Tiger had more than three. Memphis libero Christine Bach led all players with 25 digs in the three-set match.
The Blazers were never really challenged as they opened up leads of at least seven points midway through both the first and second sets. The third frame was more tightly contested with the score tied as late as 15-15, but UAB closed with 10 of the final 14 points to finish out the match comfortably.
UAB has now won four straight matches and seven of its past 10. The Blazers have also won the past four meetings with the rival Tigers, dating back to the 2008 season.
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