Tide to Open SEC Action This Weekend
9/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Tuscaloosa ?? The Crimson Tide volleyball team will open Southeastern Conference play with a pair of matches this weekend at the CAVE. The Tide will play host to Mississippi State on Friday at 7:00 pm and Ole Miss on Sunday at 1:30 pm. This weekend will begin the first of 20-straight SEC matches for the Crimson Tide.
The Tide has not lost a match to either Mississippi school since the 1998 season, winning 13 straight against Mississippi State and 14 straight matches against Ole Miss. Since 1998, the Tide is 30-1 against teams from the state of Mississippi, with its only defeat coming against Southern Miss in 2003.
Head coach Judy Green has led Alabama to victories in four of the last five conference openers and the Tide is 7-1 all time when the conference opener is at home. Alabama (5-4, 0-0 SEC) concluded the non-conference portion of its schedule last weekend at the Northern Iowa Invitational, where the Tide defeated Kansas State and suffered losses to No. 23-ranked Notre Dame and host Northern Iowa.
"This is what we played our non-conference and preseason tournament schedule for, to go into conference play and be ready to be challenged in the very first match of the conference season," Green said. "We play everyone in the SEC twice this year, and looking across the board everyone in the league has done what they need to out of conference to prepare for the SEC season."
The Crimson Tide is led offensively by redshirt junior Crystal Hudson and sophomore Amy Pauly. Hudson is scoring an average of 4.43 points per game on 126 kills. The middle blocker was also named the tournament MVP of the Academy Sports Invitational.
Pauly paces the Tide defensively, averaging 4.18 digs per game. She is also a force while serving for the Tide, having recorded 18 service aces so far this season.
SEC frontrunner Mississippi State(10-1, 1-0 SEC) comes into the CAVE red-hot, having won six straight matches and 18 straight games, including their first SEC match of the year over Ole Miss.
"Mississippi State is a much improved volleyball team," Green said. "I think they are a very good serving team and their hitters are very efficient at attacking the ball. It's a match that could go either way depending on which team is the most prepared."
The SEC weekend continues when the Tide welcomes Ole Miss to the Capstone on Sunday afternoon. The Rebels come into the CAVE after suffering a three-game sweep at Mississippi State on Wednesday night. Prior to the Mississippi State match the Rebels had won five straight matches.
"Ole Miss is another much improved team as well," Green said. "They are trying to climb their way up in the SEC. They had some great non-conference wins this season, especially the last weekend where they won the TCU tournament, so it will be another challenging match for us."
Both games this weekend can be seen on WVUA-TV. The radio play-by-play is available on the Capstone 90.7 FM or at www.newrock907.com. Live stats can be found on www.rolltide.com.
Admission is free and there will be a team poster and magnet giveaway for all fans in attendance at the CAVE on both Friday night and Sunday afternoon.
