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UAH volleyball nets early signee
The Lady Charger volleyball staff announced a signee for the 2004 season on Thursday. Kristin Bramlett of Brewer High School has committed to UAH. The 5'8" outside hitter has been touted as an exceptional defensive player. She will graduate from Brewer High School in May 2004 and currently has a 3.85 GPA. She is also member of the National Honor Society. Bramlett participated in the 2002 and 2003 Alabama Sports Festival, where her team won both years. She was named All-State Honorable mention in 2002 and has received several All-Tournament team awards.
Lady Chargers make slow return to winning ways
The 2002 season left Coach Laura Taube drained. She had just suffered her first losing season since taking over the head coaching position at UAH. The Lady Chargers finished the season 15-19. However, with the majority of the team returning for the 2003 campaign, hopes were high that things would return to normal. Although the finish was better than last season, it is clear that it will still take time to recapture the dominance of the past.The Lady Chargers finished up the 2003 season with an 18-15 record. They also finished with a 9-5 record in the Gulf South Conference East Division. That was good enough for third place, the same as 2002. They would advance to the semifinals of the GSC Tournament before falling to South Region champ North Alabama.
Junior Melissa Feldmann and sophomore Emily Miller were named to the GSC All-Tournament team. Miller was also named to the All-GSC first team for the second consecutive season. Junior Kristian Kleminsky made the GSC second team and she earned a spot on the Verizon Academic All-District team for the second time in her UAH career.
Like 2002, Miller led the Lady Chargers on offense with 425 kills, averaging 3.79 per game. She is well on her way to earning some space in the UAH volleyball record books. Kleminsky and Feldmann weren't very far behind with 353 and 291 kills respectively. Sophomore setter Samantha Polkowski and freshman Natalie Katsikas shared time quarterbacking the UAH offense in 2003. Polkowski led the team in assists with 789 (10.81 per game). Katsikas finished the season with 538.
Along with her work on offense, Miller also led on defense with 370 digs (3.30 per game). She also had 68 blocks, which was second on the team behind sophomore Bethany Holder who had a team-high 88. Senior Daniella Bragg finished her career by leading the team in service aces with 38.
The Lady Chargers began the season as strong as could be expected winning 3-of-4 in the UAH/Radisson Inn Classic. They would add a victory in their first game of the Harding Invitational to make it four out of five. However, host and eventual GSC Tournament champion Harding sidetracked the UAH streak with a 3-0 sweep. The Lady Chargers salvaged the weekend with their second win of the season over Central Arkansas, improving to 5-2.
Things got tough on the Lady Chargers on their next road outing. Three top 25 teams, No. 8 Truman State, No. 22 Washburn and No. 24 Central Missouri State, awaited UAH in the Central Missouri State Invitational. A fourth team, Pittsburg State, was unbeaten and should have been ranked. Things didn't go well at all for the Lady Chargers. They would lose all four matches and fall below .500 for the first time in the season at 5-6.
The Lady Chargers temporarily got off the deck with a home win over Valdosta State to get the GSC schedule started off on the right foot. But, two new powers in the GSC East were emerging...and both were coming to Spragins Hall. West Florida came in sporting a 16-1 record, while Montevallo rolled in with a relatively modest 9-4 record. However, the Lady Falcons were unbeaten in the GSC at 4-0. The Lady Chargers sought to prove that UWF was overrated. But, the Lady Argonauts were for real. They knocked off UAH in five games. Then, Montevallo made it two loses in a row by blowing the Chargers off the floor 3-0.
In 2002, losing 6-of-7 would have nearly buried the young Lady Chargers. But, with a little more experience under their belts, this team was a bit more resilient. The Lady Chargers pushed their way off the ropes once again winning their next three matches to climb back into the thick of the GSC East race.
After having their winning streak ended by UNA, the Lady Chargers went 2-2 in the Lady Reddie Classic at Henderson State. At 11-11, the stretch run was dead ahead with a winning record and a berth in the GSC tournament still unsecured.
A loss to Lee University on the road was sandwiched between four conference wins. Then, UAH avenged the loss to Lee in front of a record crowd at Spragins Hall. Once again, UNA and Montevallo were party-poopers, handing the Lady Chargers back-to-back losses. However, UAH had already clinched a GSC tournament spot with a road win over West Florida.
The win over UWF was not only huge because it stamped the Lady Chargers' ticket to the conference tournament, but by beating the Argos in four games, it gave UAH the tiebreaker. The tiebreaker would come into play when UAH smoked West Alabama on Senior Night and West Florida was upset by Lincoln Memorial in the season finale. The developments gave UAH the No. 3 seed in the GSC East entering the tournament.
For the GSC tournament, the Lady Chargers would have to travel back to Searcy, AR and Harding once again. UAH took on Southern Arkansas in the very first match of the tournament. Earlier in the season, the Lady Chargers nipped the Lady Riders 3-2. In what must have resembled a recurring nightmare for SAU, the Lady Chargers did it again, knocking off the Lady Riders 3-2.
The reward for eliminating Southern Arkansas was a semifinal matchup against UNA. It was the third match between the two teams in the 2003 season. Unfortunately, although they would play better against the Lions than they had in years, the Lady Charger season ended with a 3-0 loss.
Although the Lady Chargers came up short of their ultimate goal of winning the GSC title, the final match made Coach Taube proud and gave her and an experienced team cause to look forward to 2004.
