Alabama Outlasts Ole Miss in Five
9/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
TUSCALOOSA ?? Nothing will be easy for anyone in the SEC this season. That fact was nowhere more apparent than in the CAVE this afternoon, where the Crimson Tide volleyball team outlasted a pesky Ole Miss unit in five games to earn its second SEC victory and a sweep of the Mississippi schools for the weekend.
“This match was a great learning experience for this team,” head coach Judy Green said. “It showed a lot of character for us to come back, but it also showed us that we have to stay disciplined no matter what the score is on the scoreboard.”
On paper, the Tide had every advantage. Alabama had put away Mississippi State, a team that had swept Ole Miss in the first SEC match of the season, in the Tide’s league opener. In addition, Alabama had not lost a match to either MSU or Ole Miss since 1998.
But as anyone knows, matches are not played on paper, and the Tide had to work hard to move to 2-0 in SEC play in 2006.
Alabama started off on the right foot, winning game one, 30-25, over the Rebels in a comeback effort. The Tide looked to be cruising in game two, leading at 25-15 at one point, seemingly on its way to a quick 2-0 lead.
That’s when things started to go wrong.
The Ole Miss defense started to pick up the slack, and the Tide offense failed to respond, allowing the upstart Mississippi squad to pull back into the match. The Rebels came back in game two, eventually winning an exciting 33-31 affair to pull even at one game apiece.
Mississippi came back right where it left off after the intermission, jumping out early and withstanding a late Tide rally to win the third frame, 30-25.
“We got up in game two and just decided that we had that one easy,” Green said. “You just can’t do that in this conference. The teams are too good for that to happen, and we learned that today.”
It looked like the Rebels would end the Tide win streak this afternoon in game four, as they built a late lead on Alabama in game four. With its back to the wall, the Tide looked to Crystal Hudson and Bridget Fuentez to keep its hope alive.
The duo responded, as they have throughout much of the season, pulling the Tide back from the brink in game four. Alabama erased an Ole Miss lead and won the fourth frame, 30-27, to force the decisive game five.
Ironically, after four games of tense volleyball, game five was a bit less stressful. The Tide jumped out to a quick lead and never looked back, finishing off the Rebels in a 15-9 decision that earned the Tide its 15th straight win over Ole Miss.
“I think we are very fortunate to come out of this with a win against a very good Mississippi volleyball team,” Green said. “They played great volleyball today with a great pace. We haven’t played a whole lot of teams that play our pace, and they did it.”
Hudson logged another dominating offensive performance in the win. The Hueytown junior pounded 21 kills, her second match with more than 20 kills this season, on 33 attempts. For the second straight match, Hudson posted a hitting percentage of over .500, as she hit .515 against Ole Miss after a .630 performance versus Mississippi State.
Hudson, who is hitting .367 for the season, has opened SEC action at an even better pace. She recorded an incredible .567 hitting percentage in the opening weekend of league play, with 39 kills to her credit.
Just as impressive has been the all-around offensive efforts of Fuentez. The 2005 second team All-SEC performer has turned her game on of late as well, adding 18 kills and 14 digs in the win over Ole Miss. It was the 19th double-double of her career, and the fourth in the last five matches for the Tomball, Texas native.
Sarah Snider, who has spent much of her sophomore season recovering from an off-season injury, showed signs that she might be on her way back as well. Snider recorded seven kills to go with her 12 digs in the win.
Defensively it was Amy Pauly who led the way for the Tide. Pauly, who set the school record for digs last weekend with 35, racked up 21 against the Rebels. She was one of four Tide players in double figures in the dig category.
Brigitte Slack was outstanding at the setter position as well, notching 63 assists in the match. She added six kills, four digs and two service aces to the Alabama victory effort.
Middle blocker Lindsey Buteyn also came in to play a big role in the win, converting three of her four kill attempts at the tail end of the match.
“We got a lot of help from our bench today,” Green said. “It’s good to see that this team has that kind of depth.”
The Tide will play its first road games in league action next weekend when the team travels to face instate rival Auburn on Friday and to perennial power Florida on Sunday.
