Alabama Volleyball Falls to Kentucky, 3-2
11/5/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- It was another volleyball thriller for the Crimson Tide, but this time Alabama fell just short of another comeback on the road at Kentucky, falling 3-2 in Lexington, Ky.
On Friday night in Knoxville, the Tide pulled off a stunning comeback, beating Tennessee on its home floor after losing the first two games of the match.
“I am proud of our team for the entire weekend,” said Alabama head coach Judy Green. “We came back from down 0-2 twice, and rallied as a team at two tough places to play. Our team grew tremendously over the past few weeks, and we saw that again this weekend.”
After again falling behind 0-2, (30-21, 30-25) Alabama looked on track for another come-back win, storming back to win the next two games 30-22 and 30-25 to knot the match with Kentucky at 2-2. A see-saw battled ensued in the deciding frame, but the Wildcats survived, coming out on top in a 15-12 game-five decision.
The loss gives Alabama a split with UK after winning the first meeting, 3-0, in mid-October. Alabama is 15-10 on the season with a 10-6 record in the Southeastern Conference while Kentucky is now 16-8 and 9-7 in the SEC.
“I think the difference in the match was that Kentucky just got three more kills than we did in the fifth game,” said Green. ”We didn’t get the ultimate reward today, but they got a lot of other rewards. Our younger players got better and our rotation players played great volleyball this weekend.”
Junior Crystal Hudson, who went over the 1,000 kill career mark against Tennessee, continued to lead the Tide’s offense, adding 14 kills and hitting .364 against Kentucky.
Hudson and Rachel Green both posted a match-best eight blocks on the day. Brigitte Slack turned in 44 assists for the Tide, while Amy Pauly and Sarah Snider led the Alabama defensive game with 17 and 14 digs, respectively.
“I was really proud of Sarah Snider, who came in and played great volleyball for us,” said Green. “She is getting back into form and I was very happy with the spark she gave our team today.”
Alabama stays on the road for two more Southeastern Conference matches, facing LSU in Baton Rouge Friday, Nov. 10 and Arkansas in Fayetteville Sunday, Nov. 12.
