Alabama Volleyball Falls to Southern Mississippi, 3-1
11/10/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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TUSCALOOSA - The University of Alabama volleyball saw its five match win streak snapped on Wednesday night by a solid and steady Southern Mississippi squad by the count of 3-1 (30-20, 25-30, 21-30, 24-30).
The loss drops the Crimson Tide to 13-12 on the year while USM improves to 24-5. The loss also snapped a 20-match win streak for Bama over Mississippi schools.
"We got beat by a very good ball control team tonight," said UA head coach Judy Green. "I most disappointed in our effort tonight. We are at a gut check time in our season and we will just have to see what this group is made of."
The Crimson Tide got out of the blocks quickly, taking a 17-4 lead in the opening game. Southern Mississippi eventually settled things down and trimmed the Bama lead to just six points, 23-17, but would get no closer as UA earned a 30-20 victory.
Game two saw the Golden Eagles maintain a slight advantage for much of the frame. With Alabama leading 20-19, USM ran off four straight points and they never looked back en route to the 30-25 win.
Following the break, Southern Mississippi's again opened up a small margin at 11-7. The Tide rallied to cut the deficit to one, 16-15, before USM pushed back in front by five at 24-19. The Golden Eagles scored the final six points for the 30-21 decision.
The two squads traded points in the early going of game four. USM slowly opened up a slight lead on the strength of their solid passing game. Southern Miss took a six point lead at 20-14 and refused to let Bama back in the game winning the match with a 30-24 victory.
Alabama junior Erin Heffner led all players with 22 kills, with senior Jennifer Bibber posting her seventh double-double of the year in the loss with 14 kills and 14 digs.
Southern Mississippi had four players with double-digit kills led by 19 from Bridget Files.
The Crimson Tide concludes the road portion of their regular season slate this weekend with a trip through the state of Mississippi. Alabama visits Ole Miss on Friday night (7 p.m.) before stopping at Mississippi State for a Sunday afternoon tilt (2 p.m.). UA closes out the regular season with a pair of home matches next week against Auburn on Wednesday and LSU on Sunday.
Alabama (13-12) 30 25 21 24
Southern Mississippi (24-5) 20 30 30 30
