Crimson Tide Volleyball Tops Miss. State on Senior Day
11/18/2002 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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TUSCALOOSA - The Alabama volleyball team sent their seniors out as winners posting an impressive 3-1 win over Mississippi State in their regular season finale on Sunday in the CAVE. The Tide earned the victory by the scores of 32-30, 30-20, 29-31 and 30-21.
The match, which marked the final home appearance for Bama's Shelly Adamcik and Bridget Studnicka, saw the Tide offense click at a strong .312 hitting percentage and out-kill MSU 83 to 40 over the four games. The senior pair leaves the Capstone with the most victories (79) of any graduating class since the reinstatement of volleyball at UA in 1989.
"It is always a great feeling to get a win on Senior Day," said UA head coach Judy Green. "I am happy to see us starting to play well again as we head into the SEC Tournament. I feel like we've gained some important momentum the last week and I look forward to playing our next match."
Alabama got out of the gate quickly taking a 5-0 lead in game one. Mississippi State battled back to eventually knot the score at 13. From that point, the two squads traded points to a 25-25 stalemate. The Tide edged in front and had a pair of game points erased by MSU before finally earning the win, 32-30.
The Crimson Tide used a six-point spurt including a pair of aces by Jennifer Bibber to take an early 10-4 lead in the second stanza. Bama maintained the momentum, extending their margin to nine points several times. On the verge of winning game two with a 29-17 lead, Alabama watched the Bulldogs score the next three points before the Tide finally notched the final point.
Mississippi State turned things around in game three using a five-point spurt to lead 10-6. The Tide answered with a 7-1 run to earn a 15-12 lead of their own. State tied the score several times but could not earn a lead until fighting off an Alabama match point and scoring three straight points for a 31-29 win.
UA scored the first two points of the fourth frame and never gave up the lead. Alabama used strong serving and efficient offense to build a lead versus MSU that finally reached nine-points at the end. The Tide scored the final four points of the match including an ace by Studnicka.
Erin Heffner, the SEC leader in kills, recorded a season-best 27 kills to lead four Alabama players in double figures. Kory Tull pounded out a career-best 18 followed by 14 from Kelley Potter and 12 by Jennifer Bibber. Five Tide players tallied double-digit digs led by 16 from Erin Price. Alabama had 13 aces in the match marking the 12th time this season that the squad had 10 or more points from the service line.
Alabama now heads to Fayetteville, Ark., to play in the SEC Tournament. The Tide, seeded 7th, will face 2nd seed and No. 18 ranked South Carolina in the tournament's opening match at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday.
Alabama (17-13, 7-8 SEC) 32 30 29 30
Mississippi State (10-19, 1-14 SEC) 30 20 31 21
