Oct. 24, 2008

Final Stats

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB volleyball team proved once again Friday night it is unfazed by five-set matches.

The Blazers entered Friday's Conference USA contest versus Southern Miss undefeated in five-setters at 5-0 on the season. The Golden Eagles pushed UAB to a fifth set for a sixth time, and for a sixth-time, the Blazes came out on top.

UAB survived a scare to earn a 3-2 (21-25, 25-21, 25-21, 18-25, 15-10) victory. The Blazers ran their winning streak to 13 matches and maintained the top spot in the conference standings by improving to 9-1 in league play.

"Especially in our conference, you can't just show up and expect to win," UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith said. "You have to come ready to play every night.

"We didn't come out as focused tonight as we have recently. We made too many unforced errors, but I'm proud of the way we were able to hang in there and pull out a win."

Andrea Lalic led the UAB offensive attack Friday, posting a season-high 18 kills to lead all players in the match. Ivana Bozic and Casey Dent joined Lalic in double-figures with 12 and 10 kills, respectively.

Bozic -- the reigning CVU.com National Player of the Week and C-USA Offensive Player of the Week -- also tallied a season-best 21 digs on the way to her 11th double-double of the season.

Aleksandra Vujovic managed 18 digs in the win, and Heather Thomas added 10 for UAB. Nevena Stefanov ran the Blazer offense with 43 assists, while Lalic and Lilly Domingos tied for team-high honors with four blocks each. As a team, UAB totaled 12 blocks in the match.

After splitting the first two sets, the Blazers found themselves locked in a 7-7 tie with Southern Miss in the fifth set. But UAB quickly grabbed the lead for good with four straight points on two kills from Dent and two Southern Miss errors.

The Golden Eagles (13-10, 3-7 C-USA) managed to cut the lead to 11-9, but another kill from Dent and two from Bozic gave UAB a match point at 14-9. Southern Miss fought off one match point but could not survive the second as a Golden Eagle error secured the UAB win.

The match marked the first time since an Oct. 5 win over Tulane that the Blazers have been pushed to five sets.

"Southern Miss deserves a lot of credit," Messersmith said. "They came in with a great gameplan, and they have some great athletes. They always present a challenge for us, and it has been that way ever since I've been here."

The first three sets were all tight throughout. After dropping the opener, UAB came back to grab the next two. The Blazers hoped to end the match in four, but Southern Miss had other ideas. The Golden Eagles pulled away at the end of the fourth to set the stage for the fifth and decisive set.

Ashley Petrinec and Angela Hlavaty led Southern Miss offensively with 15 kills each, while Kelsea Seymour dished out a match-high 54 assists. Maia Ivanova finished with 25 digs for the Golden Eagles to lead all players.

UAB returns to action Sunday with another league match at Bartow Arena. The Blazers will host UCF with first serve slated for 1 p.m. CT.