Volleyball Blazes Past UAB :: Bulldogs grab first ever victory over UAB, 3-0

Sept. 18, 2001

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford volleyball team finally played its first home match of the season and made it memorable by defeating UAB 3-0 for its first win in 18 tries against the Blazers.

Senior Whitney Miller paced the Bulldogs (2-7) with 13 kills, eight digs, and four blocks. Miller now has 987 career kills, just 13 away from the 1,000 milestone. Sophomore Angela Smith and senior Shellie Ouldhouse each had eight kills and four blocks. Smith added in a team-high 12 digs. Sophomore Abby Miner collected nine kills for the Bulldogs while Sophomore Krista Kettering dished out 44 assists and three service aces.

"I am very proud of our team," said head coach Vickie Nichols. "It was a great win for us. It has been a long time since we have beaten a team in three games. Our serving really hurt them and took them out of their offense and we did well to spread out our offense."

Samford used a 9-1 run in game one to break open a 7-7 tie and force a UAB timeout at 16-8. Ouldhouse had five kills in the first game and the Bulldogs held UAB to a negative hitting percentage to take the opener 30-21.

Game two was the closest of the match. Both teams had their side out games working as they see-sawed to 28-28. UAB had game point at 29-28, when Miller picked up a key kill and then conspired with Stefanie Pickett for a block to give Samford game point at 30-29. The Bulldogs converted game point to take the game 31-29 and lead two games to none.

In the third game, Samford built a 16-12 advantage before UAB battled back to tie the game at 17-17. From there the Bulldogs went on an 8-1 run to force a Blazer time out at 25-18. Ouldhouse and Miller combined on a block on match point to give the Bulldogs a 30-23 win and the match.

Samford out-hit UAB .242- .031 and out-blocked the Blazers 10.5- 5. The win snapped a three-match losing steak for the Bulldogs and ended a five-match winning streak for UAB. The Blazer are now 6-2 with both of their losses coming to teams nicknamed the Bulldogs. UAB fell to Georgia earlier this season.

UAB was led by Kristi Lee who recorded 10 kills. Shelly Greene and Dina Katsoulis had 12 and 11 digs respectively.

The match was Samford's home opener after the original opener was canceled on Friday. The Bulldogs will face another Conference USA foe on Thursday when Memphis comes to Seibert Hall for a 7 p.m. match.