Volleyball Beats Auburn 3-1
10/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ?? The Alabama Volleyball team used a slow start to catapult themselves to a dominating performance over in-state rival Auburn, winning 3-1 over the Tigers here tonight.
“I thought we had an outstanding effort from our team after the first game,” Alabama head coach Judy Green said. ”We were a little out of rotation in the first game, but I think that jump started our team and gave us a little more focus. From that point, we took our match plan and put it into play.”
Alabama lost the first game 30-26 despite out-hitting Auburn .200 to .167. From that point on, the Crimson Tide rolled through the Tigers, winning the next three games, 30-16, 30-21 and 30-16. The Tide hit over .333 in each of its last three games, including a match-high .382 in game two.
“We wanted to be competitive from the service line, to win that battle, and to also pass the ball better than we have been and we did that,” Green said. “We sided-out, in games two, three and four, at 68, 81 and 75-percent. When you do that, you’re going to win volleyball matches.”
For Alabama, tonight’s win avenges an early season loss to the Tigers in Auburn and puts the Tide at 14-8 on the season, including a 9-4 Southeastern Conference record while Auburn falls to 12-13 and 4-10 in the SEC. Alabama is now 13-1 against Auburn since 1999.
Junior Crystal Hudson, who had 22 kills and hit for .600, provided the spark for the Tide. She also led the match with two solo blocks and seven block assists.
“Crystal was simply outstanding tonight,” Green said. “I think she made a point to me tonight, and that is ??start me on the front line coach Green’ and it’s a point well taken. Her personality is such that it really helps get us going. Once we got in the right rotation and kept her on the front row to start each game, I think that really gave us an edge.”
Bridget Fuentez also came up big for Alabama, posting a double-double with 18 kills and 10 digs on the night. The junior from Tomball, Texas moved into 11th place on the Tide’s all-time leader board in kills tonight with 867, passing Shelley Adamcik (1999-2002).
Defensively Alabama had four players in double digits in the digs department, led by Megan Hudson’s 14. Along with Fuentez’s 10, Brigitte Slack had 12 and Amy Paul had 11. Slack also had 54 assists on the night, doing a good job of executing the Tide’s system and getting everyone in synch.
“I thought Brigitte Slack did a really nice job of running our offense tonight,” Green said. “We’ve been talking continuing to keep balance in our offense and distributing the ball around and I think she did that tonight.”
Alabama returns to action Sunday at home against the Florida Gators, staring at 1:30 p.m. The Tide fell to the Gators 0-3 at the end of September but then went on a six match win streak against the Southeastern Conference that included victories over then No. 10 LSU and then No. 18 Tennessee.
“I expect us to be better than we were tonight,” Green said of Sunday’s match. “It’s still all about Alabama and what we do. It’s about how we take care of the ball from the service line and from the first contact aspect when the ball comes over the net onto our side. I hope our kids are fired up and excited. I think tonight was a good first step in regaining that confidence that we need and getting ourselves back in a position to challenge for the Southeastern Conference Championship and the road goes through Florida. This is our last opportunity to play them this season, and it’s at home and we’ll have to see what we can do.”
