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Lady Chargers leave it all on the floor
The Lady Chargers went down fighting at the Gulf South Conference tournament. After knocking off Southern Arkansas in a 5-game thriller in the first round, the Lady Chargers were swept by UNA in the semifinals. Although the Lions got the sweep, the Lady Chargers made them earn it. In fact, the battle with UAH may have taken something out of the Lions as they lost their death grip on the GSC. Host Harding University ended the purple reign of terror by knocking off UNA in the GSC championship game.The story is all too painfully familiar for the UAH volleyball team. The Lady Chargers won their way into the Gulf South Conference tournament semifinals, only to run into their nemesis, North Alabama. Unfortunately, there would be no new chapter written in the agonizing saga. In what has become an irritating rerun, the Lions ended the Lady Chargers' season with a 30-21, 30-24, 30-26 sweep. The Lady Chargers finished the season at 18-15.
UNA senior hitter Yana Ninova led all scorers with 23 kills. Sophomore hitter Emily Miller paced the Lady Chargers with 14 kills. Kristian Kleminsky added 10 kills, while Melissa Feldmann had 11 digs and Natalie Katsikas finished with 34 assists.
Despite the sweep, the Lady Chargers didn't go down easily. There were eight serving errors, but the defense did an excellent job of holding the UNA middle in check. In fact, each game was tight all the way to the end.
UAH coach Laura Taube was proud of her team's effort in defeat. "We played them better than we have in a couple of years," she said. "We didn't play scared. We did all of the little things well. We passed, blocked and were in the right places on defense. We just couldn't stop Yana (Ninova)."
"I'm really proud of my kids. If we had to lose, I'd rather it be like that, where we put up a good fight."
The UAH volleyball team had to come from behind, but survived close shave in the opening round of the Gulf South Conference volleyball tournament in Searcy, AR. The Lady Chargers knocked off Southern Arkansas 3-2 to earn a spot in Saturday afternoon's semifinals against the winner of the first round match between North Alabama and Henderson State.
Sophomore hitter Emily Miller led the Lady Chargers with 20 kills and a career high 29 digs. Junior middle blocker Melissa Feldmann added 14 kills and 18 digs. Freshman setter Natalie Katsikas came off the bench to pass out 27 assists, while starter Samantha Polkowski finished with 21.
After three games, the Lady Chargers trailed 2-1. UAH won the first game 30-22, but then came a massive collapse. "We suddenly started looking like a middle school," said head coach Laura Taube. "We couldn't pass or set. We just weren't transitioning well."
Southern Arkansas took advantage of several UAH miscues to win the next two games 30-21 and 30-18. Coach Taube went to her bench to try and regain the momentum from the opening game. Fortunately it worked.
"We overcame our mental self destruction," said Taube. The Lady Chargers avoided elimination by taking the fourth game 30-27. Then, they sent the Lady Riders packing with a 15-9 triumph in the deciding game.
