Southern Miss
UAB
Volleyball Earns 3-1 Victory over UAB
10/31/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 31, 2010
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Southern Miss volleyball team kept their winning streak alive Sunday with a 3-1 (29-27, 25-18, 22-25, 25-19) victory against UAB. The Golden Eagles have now won seven consecutive Conference USA matches.
The Golden Eagles (15-9, 8-5) had three players with double-digit kills. Redshirt junior Ashley Mell led the squad with 20, while junior Lauren Sears and freshman Shelby Schacher posted 14 and 10, respectively. Junior setter Kelsea Seymour registered 48 assists. Junior Lisa Knecht and Mell tied for match-high honors with 29 digs apiece with Seymour and Schacher tallying 11 digs each. Sears led the team with a team-high six total blocks. Knecht and sophomore Elizabeth Rinaudo each had two aces.
Southern Miss totaled 63 kills with an attacking percentage of .219. The squad also posted 91 digs and 9.0 total team blocks. The Blazers finished the day with 64 kills, 88 digs and 10.0 team blocks.
"Ashley Mell stepped up and had a solid all-around performance," Coach Abbey Sutherland said. "I'm proud of the team for stepping up on the road this weekend and having guts during crunch time. I think Shelby (Schacher) did a great job of filling in for Halie."
Even though there were 12 ties, the Golden Eagles never trailed in the opening set. The team battled back and forth with the first 12 points. Southern Miss took the lead for good as Sarah Jane Bowden sparked Southern Miss into action with a kill. Knecht notched an ace and Sears posted a kill before Amelia Hendrickson and Sears added a block for the 10-6 lead. UAB's Alison Woods and Ally Slaughter put down kills to get the score 10-8. The Golden Eagles got a point back from a Sears kill, but UAB got a block and kill to get within one, 11-10. Southern Miss extended its lead to 14-11 on kills from Mell and Sears in between an UAB error. USM held a 19-16 lead, but out of a UAB timeout, the Blazers rallied to get within one, 20-19, which forced the Eagles to take a timeout as well. From there, the set turned into a furious battle as the score was tied seven times down the stretch before two UAB attack errors ended the set, giving USM the 29-27 win.
The first eight points of the second set mirrored the first set before USM got two kills and an ace for the 7-4 lead. The Eagles extended their lead to 13-8 before UAB called its first timeout. The timeout failed to slow the Eagles as USM took a 16-8 lead. UAB got back-to-back kills but a Blazer service error and consecutive kills from Mell gave the Eagles a 19-10 lead. Out of the UAB timeout, USM added a point for a double digit lead 20-10, but UAB came roaring back behind Jordan McDonald who tallied three kills in helping UAB cut the lead to 21-16. Following the USM timeout, Southern Miss outscored UAB, 4-2, for the 25-18 win.
UAB got off to a good start in the third set with a kill by Slaughter and a block by Michelle Uzoh and McDonald, but three kills from Seymour, a kill from Mell and a block from Bowden and Mell pushed the Eagles ahead 5-4. UAB tied the set after an Eagle attack error, but Bowden and Mell had back-to-back putaways sparking a 5-1 run to go up 10-6. After a Blazer timeout, UAB's Kate Morrell jump started an 11-6 run with a kill as UAB took a 17-16 lead. Southern Miss battled back using a 6-4 run for the 22-21 lead. After taking its last timeout, UAB then ended the set with two kills from McDonald and an Eagle error and block for the 25-22 win.
The Golden Eagles took a 5-0 lead in the fourth set before an attack error gave UAB its first point. UAB recorded three more points, but USM managed to stay ahead, 6-4, on a Seymour kill. The score stayed close until Southern Miss took an 11-9 lead and extended it to 14-9 with kill from Schacher and block from Mell and Sears. USM led by as many as six points, 20-14, when UAB called its final timeout. UAB managed two more points but Southern Miss got three straight points on a Hendrickson kill and two Knecht aces for a 23-16 lead. Southern Miss closed out the set, 25-19, for a 3-1 match win.
The Golden Eagles head out on the road again with matches at UTEP (Nov. 5) and at UCF (Nov. 7).
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