University of Houston
UAB
Volleyball Keeps Win Streak Alive, Sweeps UAB 3-0
11/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 5, 2010
HOUSTON - The University of Houston volleyball team won its fourth-straight match with a 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 32-30) sweep of UAB on Friday night at the Athletics/Alumni Center.
With the win, Houston improves to 16-10 on the season and 10-4 in Conference USA play. The Cougars are also 2-0 against the Blazers this season following a sweep earlier this season in Birmingham, Ala.
Three Cougars recorded double-digit kills in the win over UAB. Marluci Toazzi and Lucy Charuk finished with 12 kills each, while Stephanie Nwachukwu had 10. Amber Brooks tallied 38 assists, while Amanda Carson finished with a game-high 18 digs.
"Overall, tonight was a good win," head coach Molly Alvey said. "There were some plays that I feel we needed to be a little bit sharper on throughout the match and I would have liked us to take a few more swings at the ball. We were tipping way too much."
"Amanda Carson showed great senior leadership tonight. She came up with some huge points for us in set three. Stephanie Nwachukwu also had several blocks at critical points in the match."
The Cougars opened the match to a 6-5 lead and traded points with the Blazers to play to an 8-8 tie. Houston scored the first point to break the tie and they would go on the take a 15-10 lead. Following a UAB timeout, the Cougars continued to increase their lead, taking a 20-16 lead into a second Blazer timeout. Off the bench, Houston continued to control the pace of the set and went on to win 25-19.
Both teams came out in the second set poised for a win. They battled to tie the set 14-14. The Cougars scored the next three points to give themselves a cushion and went on to take a 22-20 lead. A timeout was quickly called from the UAB bench and the Blazers would come out of the break to tie the set 24-24. Houston, however, was able to capitalize on two UAB attack errors to win the set, 26-24.
The third and final set proved to be the toughest for the Cougars. They would fall behind early at 11-10 but regroup to take a 16-13 lead. They let the lead slip away as UAB scored the next five points for their second lead of the night at 18-16. Alvey called a timeout to regroup her team and they would slowly crawl out of the hole and take back the lead 21-20. The two teams would trade points until Charuk put together back-to-back kills giving the Cougars the 32-30 win.
UP NEXT
Houston will be back on the court Sunday at 1 p.m. for a rematch with Memphis. The Cougars fell to the Tigers 3-2 earlier in the season in Memphis.
