University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
UAB
Volleyball Sweeps UAB, 3-0
10/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 17, 2010
Birmingham, Ala. - The University of Houston volleyball team knocked off UAB 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-17) Sunday afternoon at Bartow Arena. The Cougars have now won six of their last seven matches, improving to 12-9 on the season and 6-3 in Conference USA.
Marluci Toazzi led a balanced Cougar attack with 10 kills and three blocks. Stephanie Nwachukwu added nine kills and Lucy Charuk and Chandace Tryon added eight each. Amber Brooks led the team with 34 assists and Amanda Carson finished with 16 digs.
"Our first contact on the ball was very sharp today," head coach Molly Alvey said. "That in turn helped us distribute the ball to several people and gave us multiple options offensively. UAB was going after Marluci on the serve and she did a great job controlling our passing."
"Stephanie was back on her game today and Marluci played a full match as her passing and attacking was very consistent," Alvey added. "We executed our serving game plan, which in turn made blocking and defense a lot easier for us."
Houston opened the match to an 8-2 lead, quickly prompting a timeout from the UAB bench. Out of the break, a UAB attack error added to the Cougars' lead and the lead would increase throughout the remainder of the match. Houston led 24-17 before back-to-back attack errors by the Cougars handed the Blazers two points. Alvey called a timeout to regroup her team and off the bench Tryon sealed the win with a kill.
UAB came out to a 5-3 lead in the second set, but Houston quickly answered to tie the set 6-6. The Cougars then took their first lead, 11-10. After two attack errors by UAB, the UH lead reached 13-10 before the Blazers called a timeout. The two teams battled the remainder of the set, before Houston was able to come away with the win, 25-20.
In the final set, Houston jumped out to a 17-13 lead and never looked back. They sailed to a 25-17 win to close out the match and secure the victory.
"Winning today is double-sided," Alvey said. "We were able to respond to a loss and perform well while doing so on the road. It's always about how you respond to winning and losing that either makes you a better team or not. Secondly, the win is a great finish to the weekend to carry us into some tough matches this coming week."
UP NEXT
The Cougars will be back in Houston for matches against Tulsa and SMU on Oct. 22-23 at the Athletics/Alumni Center. Tulsa and SMU currently sit at the top of the league standings.
