Tide Volleyball Drops Season Opener to Coastal Carolina
8/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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ATLANTA - A determined University of Alabama volleyball squad faced a gritty Coastal Carolina team in the opening round of the Courtyard by Marriott Classic on Friday night with Coastal outlasting the Tide for a hard-fought 3-2 (30-25, 30-22, 13-30, 22-30, 15-12) win.
Erin Heffner paced the Tide with 23 kills while Jennifer Bibber and Erin Price led the way with 15 digs each. The loss snapped a five match win streak for Alabama in season openers.
"We made it very difficult on ourselves by falling behind 0-2," said UA head coach Judy Green. "I was proud of the way the team battled back in games three and four. In game five, we just gave them too many easy points."
Alabama got out of the blocks quickly in game taking a 5-1 lead on an ace from Price. UA maintained a slight advantage until Coastal Carolina knotted the score at 11. From that point, Coastal used an 11-4 spurt to take a comfortable 22-15 lead. The Tide rallied scoring seven of the next eight points to pull to within one at 22-23, but the Chanticleers were able to rebound and hold on for the 30-25 victory.
In the second frame, Carolina kept their offense moving and gained the early momentum. The Tide closed the scoring gap to two points (8-10) but would get no closer as CC continued to extend their lead en route to earning a 30-22 win.
Game three was a different story as Alabama finally got things clicking on all cylinders. The Tide grabbed an early lead and never looked back. Kory Tull sparked a 9-0 run by the Tide last in the stanza that included four aces in five serve attempts for the junior jump server. UA finished strong posting a 30-13 decision that pushed the match to a fourth game.
The Crimson Tide kept things rolling in the fourth stanza using runs of nine and seven points to open up an 18-5 advantage. Coastal Carolina attempted a late comeback closing the Bama lead to six but the Tide held on to even the match with a 30-22 victory.
The Chanticleers struck first in the deciding game, taking a quick 6-3 lead. Coastal pushed their margin to five points before the Tide charged back. Alabama fought off four match points before finally falling 15-12.
In addition to leading the team in kills, Heffner finished with a double-double after recording 14 digs in the contest. Kory Tull tallied 10 kills and 11 digs for her double-double and Bibber also earned the double with 15 kills to go along with her team high dig total.
The Tide served up 15 aces in the contest to only three for Carolina and Bama also won the battle of the net with a 12.5 - 4 advantage in team blocks. Freshman Katie Barker, who started in her collegiate debut, led UA with seven block assists.
Redshirt freshman Mary Beth Moore and true freshman Sarah Schneider both made their debuts for the Tide. Moore saw action at the libero while Schneider played the defensive specialist role.
Senior Erin Price handed out 48 assists and finished with five block assists in her first match as the Tide's starting setter.
Coastal Carolina was led by 14 kills and 30 digs from Katherine Jensen.
Alabama will face Northwestern at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday before meeting tournament host No. 12 Georgia Tech at 7:30 p.m.
Coastal Carolina (1-0) 30-30-13-22-15
Alabama (0-1) 25-22-30-30-12
