Volleyball Wins First Match of the Season
8/27/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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LAWRENCE, KS—After a dropping its season opener Friday night to Kansas, the Alabama volleyball team (1-1) rebounded with a 3-0 (30-18, 30-23, 30-19) over Missouri-Kansas City (0-1) Saturday afternoon.
“I was very pleased to see how we responded as a team after last night,” Alabama head coach Judy Green said. “I felt like today we played more consistently through all three games and it was good to get several different players some action in their first matches. This tournament will be a great learning experience for our team.”
The Tide came out firing right off the bat, recording 21 kills and a .515 percentage in pulling away in the first game of the match. Alabama would go on to finish the match with 54 kills and only 11 errors in 106 total attacks for a .406 percentage.
“I think our team was mentally ready to go from the first ball of the first game,” Green said. “We’ve talked about being mentally ready to go immediately after the first serve. Our passing gave opportunity to hit 40 percent and we kept constant pressure on UMKC’s block all afternoon.”
For the match the Tide was led by both Crystal Hudson and Sarah Snider. Each recorded 12 kills for the match with Hudson finishing with a .647 percentage. Abbi Blackburn and Lindsey Buteyn made their season debuts for Alabama and each recorded four kills in the third game.
Bridget Fuentez finished two kills shy of a double-double on the day with eight kills and 12 digs. Senior libero Jessica Yearout had 12 digs for Alabama as well. Brigitte Slack led the way passing the ball with 44 set assists.
UMKC was led by Angela Melka with nine kills. She also paced the Kangaroos, along with Mandy Tipton, with seven digs.
The Tide returns home to host the Hampton Inn Bama Bash next Friday and Saturday. Action will begin Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. in the CAVE with Oklahoma and Indiana. Alabama’s first match will be at 12:30 p.m. against Loyola (Chi.). Admission to the Bama Bash is free.
