Alabama Volleyball Wins a 3-1 Thriller Over Tennessee
10/17/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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Faced with going to a fifth game to decide the match, the Alabama volleyball team rallied from a 29-24 deficit to win game four 31-29 and take a 3-1 victory over the Tennessee Lady Vols Sunday afternoon in the CAVE. The Tide improves to 18-3 overall, its best start since the 1977 season, and 6-2 in Southeastern Conference play. Tennessee falls to 11-7 overall, 5-3 in the SEC.
The Tide trailed much of the final game against UT, falling behind by as many as eight points at 26-18. With their backs to the wall and Tennessee serving to end the game, the Tide came storming back. Crystal Hudson brought the ball back over to Alabama with a kill to cut the score to 29-25. Megan Hudson came on to serve for the Tide and Alabama rolled off six more points including several on long rallies to end the game and the match.
"We came back from 2-0 to win last weekend, we came from behind to win a game 31-29 Friday night over South Carolina and we were able to do it again today," Alabama head coach Judy Green said. "This team has a never say die attitude. Today we got a chance to prove that we are great team."
In defeating the Lady Vols in Tuscaloosa for the first time since the 1995 season, the Tide knocked off a team that had been ranked as high as No. 9 in the AVCA Top 25 this season. The Lady Vols had also controlled the series with Alabama, having won four in a row and 10 of the last 11 matches before Sunday's match.
"This was a true gut-check for us," Green said. "We only get one opportunity to play them in our house during the season. Tennessee is the team that we've respected the most because of what they were able to do last year. When we changed our defense, we modeled it after them because of what they were able to accomplish."
Crystal Hudson had a career best 23 kills to lead the Tide. Bridget Fuentez, Kelley Potter and Lindsey Buteyn also reached double figures in kills with 13, 11 and 10 respectively. Brigette Slack matched her career high with seven kills but had 59 assists on the day. Jessica Yearout led three Tide players in double figures in digs with her Alabama career best 28. Megan Hudson and Fuentez had 15 and 14 digs each.
Alabama out hit UT on the afternoon .223 to .165. The Tide also had more kills (71-58), more assists (68-54) than the defending SEC champions.
Tennessee was led by Yuliya Stoyanova's 15 kills. Sarah Blum had 13 kills and Kristen Andre added 12 kills for UT. Amy Morris had 27 digs for the Lady Vols.
The first two games were one-sided affairs with Alabama taking the first game 30-23 and Tennessee taking a 30-24 win in game two. In game one Alabama took the lead at the 4-3 mark and never let it go. Tennessee took the lead for good in game two at 3-2.
The final two games of the match were exciting, back-and-forth contests that came down to the wire. Alabama turned up its defense in the third game, holding the Volunteers to just a .098 hitting percentage. However, the Tide trailed late in the game 25-22. Alabama then ran off five straight points with Abbi Blackburn serving to take a 27-25 lead and UA was able to finish off game three 30-28, before ending the match in game four.
Alabama returns to action Wednesday night in the CAVE as the Tide hosts arch-rival Auburn at 7:00. The game will be televised in the Tuscaloosa area by WVUA 7. The game will also be broadcast on WVUA 90.7 FM in Tuscaloosa. Outside of the Tuscaloosa area, fans can tune into the broadcast and view live stats at www.rolltide.com.
