Volleyball Captures Tourney Title With Win Over UAB
9/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
 |
|
TUSCALOOSA - The University of Alabama volleyball team made sure the tournament championship trophy was staying in Tuscaloosa posting a 3-0 (30-19, 30-27, 30-25) sweep over UAB on Saturday afternoon in the finale of the Crimson Tide Invitational.
The Tide posted a perfect 3-0 record this weekend in improving to 5-6 on the year. The straight game victory over the Blazers earned the program's first tournament title since winning the Barker GMC Classic in 2002. Alabama has now won a regular season tournament crown in each of the last three seasons. The victory also extended UA's win streak to 15 matches
over in-state opponents. UAB falls to 5-9 with the loss.
"It is always a great feeling to win your home tournament," said UA head coach Judy Green, who owns a 13-4 record in Bama-hosted tournaments in her career. "We played our most consistent stretch of volleyball this weekend, especially on the offensive side of the net. I thought we did a great job of playing sideout volleyball and that was the real difference for
us."
Alabama got off to a quick start taking a 13-3 lead in game one. UAB got as close as seven points (22-15), but the Tide proved too strong cruising to the 30-19 victory. The Tide posted a .308 hitting performance while holding the Blazers to just a .025 clip.
Game two went back and forth with the Tide able to always maintain a slight advantage. UA held a slim one-point margin (13-12) before Bama used a 9-3 spurt to widen their lead. Alabama held on to a five-point lead until a late UAB rally cut the lead to just two at 28-26. Jennifer Bibber recorded a pair of kills to give the Tide a 30-27 win.
The Tide again got an early lead over UAB in the third frame (14-7). However, the Blazers battled back pulling to within two at 16-14. UAB closed the gap to a single point (22-21) but would get no closer as the Tide's outside hitting duo of Bibber and Erin Heffner eventually finished them off for the 30-25 decision.
Bibber recorded 19 kills to lead the Tide offense with Heffner finishing with 18. A trio of UA players hit over .400 for the match including Bibber (.444), Heffner (.405) and Kory Tull (.417). Kelley Potter paced the Bama defense with 12 digs followed by 11 from Bibber. Julie Farley was the Tide's front row leader posting six blocks. Martina Shields tallied
12 kills and nine digs as UAB's top performer.
Heffner was named the tournament MVP and was joined on the All-Tournament team by Tide teammates Farley and Bibber. The Jacksonville State duo of Christina Cary and Kisha West along with Karen Boyd (UAB) and Jessica Lippi (Georgia Southern) were also named to the all-tournament squad.
Alabama has now concluded the pre-conference portion of its 2003 schedule. The Tide opens Southeastern Conference play on Friday when they visit No. 3 Florida. UA's first home SEC match is October 10 against Georgia.
