SMU volleyball is back at Moody Coliseum for another round with conference opponents University of Alabama at Birmingham on Friday.
During a previous match-up this season with the UAB Blazers, the Mustangs finished with a 3-0 victory. SMU finished the first set with a 25-19 win to start the sweep.
The Mustangs kept up the momentum for the second set. SMU and UAB were tied 6-6 until the Mustangs scored the next nine points taking the lead 15-6.
The Blazers were unable to close the gap, always remaining at least seven points behind, and ending the second set in favor of the Mustangs 25-7.
A late rally with UAB in the third set took place to erase a 3-point deficit and complete the sweep 25-23.
Senior Libero Sidney Stewart had 27 digs during the match, launching her career total to 2,008 to become the first Mustang and fourth player in C-USA history to achieve 2,000 digs in a career.
The loss to SMU was only the Blazers second in C-USA play and they are currently ranked No. 3 in conference with an 8-3 record. Their only conference losses of the 2011 season have been to SMU, Houston and Tulsa.
Both SMU and Houston swept the Blazers 3-0 while Tulsa had a four set match but left Birmingham with the 3-1 win.
Halfway through the season, SMU is currently 5-6 in conference. SMU has lost to UCF, UTEP, Rice, Tulane, Memphis and most recently Marshall.
After Marshall broke a tie of 19-19 with six points during the first the set, the Mustangs lost 25-19.
However, SMU showed Marshall that it wasn’t going to be an easy match when they kept building on a 16-8 lead when defense scored five of the first points on blocks.
SMU took the second set with a 25-17 win to tie the match. Despite the Mustang’s efforts, Marshall finished the match on top with a 3-2 victory over SMU with a 15-11 score in the final set.
Freshman Caroline Young, an outside hitter from Brenham, Texas, led the Mustangs in kills for the fourth-straight match during the Marshall match.
Young totaled 16 kills during the away match with Marshall’s Thundering Herd on Sunday.
The Mustangs had 14 blocks against Marshall with Caroline Daly having made eight of those. Red-shirt sophomore Kendrick Koch posted her second-straight double-double with 28 assists and 18 digs.
Kelli Bercerra, a senior setter, finished with her 12th double-double of the season posting 26 assists and 10 digs. Stewart came home with a match-high 20 digs.
Join the SMU Volleyball team as they take on UAB at Moody Coliseum on Friday at 7 p.m. The Mustangs will also host a tailgate Sunday at 12:30 p.m. before the SMU-Memphis volleyball match at 1 p.m.
