Crimson Tide Volleyball Sweeps Mississippi State, 3-0
10/24/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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TUSCALOOSA - The University of Alabama volleyball team kept on the winning track with an impressive 3-0 (30-23, 30-26, 30-17) sweep over Mississippi State on Friday night in the CAVE in front of a near season high 490 fans.
The Tide posted back-to-back wins for the first time since Sept. 19-20 with the victory and improved to 10-11 overall and 4-5 in Southeastern Conference play. Mississippi State falls to 1-18 overall, 0-9 in the SEC and has now lost 15 straight matches. The win also marked Bama's ninth consecutive over the Bulldogs.
Alabama clicked offensively from the opening serve finishing the match with a season-best hitting percentage of .427 including a pair of games hitting at .500. Erin Heffner led a balanced offensive attack posting a season high 24 kills on a variety of shots. For the match, Heffner hit .677 with only three errors in 31 attempts.
"Our challenge with a team that plays a slower tempo than us is to not fall into their style," said UA head coach Judy Green. "In game one and part of game two we were playing at their pace, but midway through the second game we started to pick things up a little. Erin Heffner was phenomenal tonight and Rachael Green really gave us a spark from the service line and defensively. We played solid team volleyball tonight and that was the difference."
Game one saw Mississippi State take a quick short lived lead. Alabama raced back from an early deficit to open up a 14-9 advantage. The Tide pushed the lead to 26-18 behind a fast-paced offense and closed out the game by the count of 30-23. Bama finished the game hitting .500 while holding MSU to a .000 hitting performance. Heffner tallied seven kills in the frame to match State's total as a team.
Mississippi State finally picked up things on offense at the start of game two as the two squads traded points back-and-forth to 16. The Bulldogs grabbed a lead with a run of five straight points, capitalizing on several passing errors by the Tide. Rachael Green led the Tide to six straight points from the service line taking Bama from a 24-21 deficit to a 27-24 lead. Alabama held on and closed out the game for a 30-26 win.
In game three, Green again struck from the service line pushing Bama to a double-digit advantage, 13-3, with a string of eight points. Alabama was able to maintain their comfortable edge for the remainder of the game, leading by as many as 14 points (26-12). Mississippi State refused to quit, fighting off several match point opportunities for UA, before finally falling 30-17. Green put an exclamation on the night scoring the final point with a tip kill.
Green led the Tide serving attack with a career-high four aces in just her second career start. Green also shared the team lead in blocking with Heffner with both finishing with five. Heffner posted nine digs to lead Bama to a 45-30 edge. Jennifer Bibber posted nine kills on the evening followed by eight from setter Erin Price. Price handed out 36 assists in setting the Tide to its best hitting performance of the year.
The Crimson Tide concludes its weekend of home SEC play on Sunday against Ole Miss at 1:30 p.m. in the CAVE. The match will be broadcast live on radio by WVUA New Rock 90.7 FM.
Alabama (10-11, 4-5 SEC) 30-30-30
Mississippi State (1-18, 0-9 SEC) 23-26-17
