Volleyball Hosts Auburn in SEC Opener on Wednesday
9/23/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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TUSCALOOSA - The University of Alabama volleyball team has enjoyed a successful run in its non-conference schedule posting a 9-1 record, but now the Tide turns its attention to Southeastern Conference play welcoming Auburn to the CAVE on Wednesday at 7 p.m. for its league opener.
The Crimson Tide enter their tilt with the Tigers riding an eight match win streak over their archrivals having last lost to Auburn during the 1999 season. Alabama holds a 31-25 advantage in the all-time series.
Wednesday night's match has also been designated as "Cram the CAVE" night with the Tide trying to establish a new single match attendance mark. Against Auburn last season, Alabama drew a program record 1,227 fans for the inaugural "Cram the CAVE" event.
Festivities for the event include free T-Shirts for the first 500 fans. There will be a number of promotional contests throughout the match and between games.
Senior Erin Heffner, who recently became the Tide's all-time leader in kills and was named SEC Player of the Week on Monday, and junior Jessica Yearout, who recorded her 1,000th career kill last week, will both be honored in a pre-match ceremony for their milestone accomplishments.
"We are excited about playing Auburn in our SEC opener," said UA head coach Judy Green. "It is always a very competitive match when we play Auburn and like all Alabama-Auburn contests it is very emotional for the players and fans. I hope that we can get another huge crowd in the CAVE like we had last year because that was an electric atmosphere. Both teams have been playing well so far this season so the match sets up to be a real entertaining one."
Alabama is 7-8 all-time in SEC openers since the return of volleyball in 1989. UA owns a 3-5 mark under Green but have won two of their last three league debuts.
Admission to the Alabama-Auburn volleyball match is free and open to the public.
