Alabama Volleyball Defeats Tulane at SEC/C-USA Challenge
11/28/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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BATON ROUGE, La. - The University of Alabama volleyball team bounced back from a disappointing loss on Friday night with an impressive 3-1 (30-24, 31-33, 30-22, 30-24) victory over Tulane at the SEC/C-USA Challenge on Saturday night.
The Crimson Tide snapped a two-match losing skid with the victory and finish the regular season with a 21-9 record while Tulane falls to 17-12 overall with the loss.
Senior All-American candidate Erin Heffner paced a balanced offensive performance by the Tide finishing with 19 kills. Julie Farley added 16 kills in the victory with Bridget Fuentez (14) and Crystal Hudson (10) also reaching double figure kill totals. As a team, Alabama posted a .230 hitting percentage and won the battle at the net 75-59 in kills.
"I thought we had much better balance tonight," said UA head coach Judy Green. "We set some pre-match goals for the competition and reach all of them including winning the battle on defense. If this is our final match of the year, it is nice to go out with a solid victory."
After being out-dug in each of its past two matches, Alabama turned the table on Tulane earning an 82-79 edge in digs for the match. Heffner led the Tide with 19 digs with Kory Tull chipping in 18 and Jessica Yearout posted 16. Farley was Bama's top front row defender finishing with six blocks in the match.
Sara Weiland's 23 kills led the Green Wave offensively with Kelli Dickson pacing the TU defense with a match-high 21 digs.
Alabama will now wait and see if its season continues with a first-ever invitation to the NCAA Championship Tournament. The 64-team field for the NCAA Tournament will be announced on ESPN News at 5:45 p.m. on Sunday.
