Alabama Volleyball Hosts Birmingham-Southern on Tuesday
9/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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TUSCALOOSA – The University of Alabama volleyball team will take a quick break from the road with a Tuesday night tilt versus Birmingham-Southern at 7 p.m. in the CAVE.
The Crimson Tide is coming off another solid week of play that saw the team extend its season-opening win streak to six matches. Alabama’s 6-0 start equals the best start in modern program history (since 1989). UA opened both the 1998 and 2002 campaigns at 6-0.
Alabama has also won its last 19 matches against in-state opponents including a 3-0 win over Alabama A&M in the season opener. Tuesday night’s match-up with BSC marks the first ever meeting between the Tide and Panthers.
Junior libero Jessica Yearout is on the verge of some personal history needing just seven digs to reach 1,000 for her career. The transfer from the University of Idaho enters the match averaging a team best 3.95 dpg and has reached double digit totals in five matches.
Erin Heffner, a senior All-American candidate, averaged 6.67 kills a game last week and leads the SEC at 6.14 kpg this season. She moved into second on Alabama’s career kill list with 1, 626 and needs just 79 more to become the all-time leader at the Capstone.
Birmingham-Southern (4-2) enters Tuesday night’s battle with the Tide riding a four-match win streak. BSC dropped their first two matches before getting on the winning track. The Panthers captured the tournament title at their own BSC Challenge last weekend with wins over Samford, Gardner-Webb and Troy. Jana Smelley, a native of Tuscaloosa and American Christian Academy grad, garnered MVP honors at the event and leads the team with 3.57 kills per game this season.
Following the BSC match, Alabama returns to the road with a trip to Bloomington, Ind., to play in the TIS Bookstore Invitational on Sept. 17-18. The Tide will face tournament host Indiana on Friday night at 7 p.m. before meeting Pittsburgh (10 a.m.) and Kent State (5 p.m.) on Saturday.
