Bama Volleyball Drops First Match of Season Versus Pitt
9/18/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The University of Alabama volleyball team knew their match with Pittsburgh on Saturday morning would be a challenge, and it lived up to its billing as the Tide and Panthers battled to the very end before Pitt earned a hard-fought 3-2 (27-30, 30-23, 24-30, 30-20, 15-12) victory over the Tide at the TIS Bookstore Invitational.
The loss was the first of the season for the Crimson Tide (8-1) snapping a season opening win streak of eight matches. The win improved Pitt's mark to 6-3 on the year and moved them to 2-0 at the tournament heading into their match against host Indiana at 7 p.m. on Saturday night.
Alabama and Pitt treated fans to a classic volleyball match as both teams made big plays and had opportunities to win the match. Over the five games there was 31 ties and 17 lead changes including eight ties and four lead swaps in the deciding frame.
"Pitt is a very good team and we knew that coming in," said UA head coach Judy Green. "This match was an exciting one to play and coach in from the fact that is was highly competitive. It was evenly played the entire day, but I think the difference in the end was that Pitt was able to make a few more defensive plays when they needed to. I really feel like this match can only help our team as we go along this season."
Senior All-American candidate Erin Heffner recorded her seventh 20+ kills match of the season finishing with a team high 24 in the contest. Heffner also recorded 10 digs for her sixth double-double. With her kill total, Heffner moved to within five kills of becoming the Tide's all-time career leader.
Fellow senior Julie Farley (15 kills) and freshman Crystal Hudson (14 kills) both contributed to the Tide offensive performance. Farley hit .481 for the contest while Hudson posted a .480 hitting percentage to help the Bama team to a solid .313 mark.
Freshman setter Brigitte Slack had one of her top performances of the season recording seven kills and handing out 56 assists. Alabama also had a strong serving match finishing with 11 aces including five from Farley and four by Jessica Yearout.
Defensively, Alabama had another quality outing tallying a season best 14 blocks and 54 digs. Rachael Green recorded eight blocks to pace the UA front row while Yearout and Kory Tull shared the Bama back row honors with 15 digs each.
Pittsburgh had a pair of players record over 20 kills in the match with Gini Ullery finishing with 26 and Megan Miller adding 20. Panther libero Megan McGrane, one of the nation's leaders in digs, posted 26 of Pitt's 59 digs in the match.
The Panthers grabbed the momentum midway through the first game, but struggled to close out the game as the Tide rallied from 29-22 down before finally losing 30-27. The two squads stayed close for half of the second stanza, but Alabama seized control with the score knotted at 17 and raced to the 30-23 win to even the match.
Game three was another close contest, before a 10-4 surge by the Panthers down the stretch gave them a 30-24 victory. The Tide broke open a tight fourth game using a 12-3 spurt of its own en route to a 30-20 win.
In the final game, Pitt and Bama traded points to nine before the Panthers gained a slim margin with back-to-back points. The advantage was just enough as Pittsburgh held on for the 15-12 win and the match victory.
Alabama concludes play at the TIS Bookstore Invitational against Kent State on Saturday night at 5 p.m.
