Alabama Volleyball Hosting South Carolina and Tennessee This Weekend
10/13/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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The Alabama volleyball team (16-3, 4-2 SEC) returns home to the CAVE this weekend to take on Southeastern Conference Eastern Division rivals South Carolina on Friday night at 7:00 and Tennessee on Sunday afternoon at 1:30. Alabama, who defeated Ole Miss and Mississippi State last weekend, comes into the weekend tied for first in the SEC West with Arkansas.
Alabama head coach Judy Green is looking forward to seeing how much her squad has improved since their last home weekend.
"I think that these are two very good teams that are coming in this weekend," Green said. "Both teams have played very well in conference. Once again it is an opportunity for us to play two top 50 teams and to see how much we have improved since we played LSU and Arkansas."
Bridget Fuentez, Crystal Hudson and Jessica Yearout lead the way for Alabama. Offensively, Fuentez is averaging a team best 3.58 kills per game and had a career high 23 kills in the Tide's last match at MSU. Hudson leads the team and ranks third in the SEC in hitting percentage at .385 for the season. Defensively, Yearout paces the Tide with a 4.58 digs per game average. The senior libero has recorded double figure digs in eight straight matches and 12 of her last 13 contests overall. Fuentez stands second on the team with a 3.05 dig per game average and Hudson leads the squad in blocks per game.
South Carolina (9-7, 2-4) comes into Friday night's match on a two game slide, falling on the road last weekend to Georgia and No. 5 Florida. The Gamecocks are led by Shonda Cole, who ranks third in the SEC in kills per game, averaging 4.54. The Tide holds the all-time series lead over USC with a 14-11 record and UA has taken the last four matches in the series.
The Lady Vols (10-6, 4-2) feature the top hitters in the SEC. Kristen Andre leads the SEC with a .399 hitting percentage while Yuliya Stoyanova leads the league with 4.71 kills per game. Tennessee was the No. 9 ranked team in the nation entering the season and is still receiving votes in the AVCA coaches' poll. UT has won 10 of the last 11 meetings with Alabama.
The South Carolina match will be televised live in the Tuscaloosa area on WVUA 7. The Sunday match with Tennessee will be televised by CSS. Live stats and audio of the matches can be followed at www.rolltide.com.
