Sept. 12, 2003

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB took a 3-0 victory over South Alabama and Western Carolina came back to defeat Samford 3-2 on the first day of the Union State Bank/Samford Invitational at Seibert Hall Friday night.

Martina Shields led three UAB (2-6) hitters in double figures with a match high 15 kills as the Blazers took care of South Alabama in the opening match of the tournament. Breanne Swenson had 13 kills and Karen Boyd added 11 kills for UAB.

South Alabama (1-4) was led by 14 kills from Kim Courchesne and 10 kills by Morgan Flarity. The Jags had a 21-10 lead in game two, but the Blazers came all the way back to win 34-32 to take control of the match.

In the night cap, Samford (2-6) took a 2-0 lead before Western Carolina (4-3) stormed back to take the final games.

The Bulldogs hit an impressive .452 in the first and held WCU to an .047 percentage in the second game. The match turned after the intermission when WCU's Ellie Talbot took off the libero jersey and played all the way around. Talbot finished with 10 kills and 11 digs. Setter Shari Harder had a triple double with 11 kills, 51 assists, and 15 digs. Kellyn Thaut led the Catamounts with 18 kills and 14 digs. Sara Komosinski had 17 kills and 16 digs and Michelle Gorton added 14 kills for Western.

Alyssa Whitehead led all hitters with 25 kills and 18 digs. Hilary Gary added 18 kills and Angela Smith chipped in 10 kills for the Bulldogs. Defensively, Krista Kettering had 18 digs and Callaway Logan and Eileen Hatfield had 15 and 11 digs respectively.

Western Carolina jumped out to an 8-1 lead to begin game five. The Catamounts ended the game hitting .304 compared to -.038 for the Bulldogs in the deciding game. WCU out-hit Samford .211-.194 for the match and out blocked the Bulldogs 11-7.

The tournament will continue on Saturday morning as UAB will face Western Carolina at 10 a.m. followed by Samford and South Alabama at 12:30 p.m. The 12:30 match can be seen on Bulldog Vision from the Samford website at www.samfordsports.com. The afternoon session will feature Western Carolina and South Alabama at 3 p.m. and Samford and UAB at 5:30 p.m.