Tide Volleyball Downs Georgia, 3-1
10/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.- The University of Alabama volleyball team finished the weekend 2-0 as the Tide came from behind to defeat Georgia, 30-32, 30-23, 30-24, 30-16, this afternoon in the CAVE. With the win, Alabama improves to 10-9 overall and 7-3 in the SEC.
"I think at the very beginning of the match we were a little emotionally flat and we got behind a pretty large lead in the first game," said Alabama head coach Judy Green. "I was really proud of how we kept our composure and we fought through adversity to get our rhythm back and as soon as we did we absolutely executed what we needed to do with our game plan."
The Crimson Tide outplayed Georgia across the board the final three games after struggling in game one. Alabama's senior middle blocker Crystal Hudson led all players with 20 kills and hit a season high .548 while junior Lindsey Buteyn set a career high in blocks with seven.
As a team, the Tide posted 14 blocks to Georgia's two and held the Bulldogs to a .000 hitting percentage in the fourth game.
"Today was one of the best serving and blocking performances that we've had all season," said Green. "I felt like our players were very focused on doing that. It was a good team win for us. We just want to keep getting better every day in the gym and become a better team every day."
After winning game one, Georgia came out strong to start game two and jumped out to an early lead on the Tide. Alabama fought back to claim the lead on a kill from redshirt sophomore Brooks Webster at 10-9. The Tide held the lead for the rest of the game and the match as Alabama kept the Bulldogs at reach for the remaining three games. Alabama ended game one on a kill from Hudson out of the middle.
Game two was all about the Tide. Freshman Mary Catherine Aune set the tone in the game by ripping off two service aces to give the Tide a 5-1 lead. Georgia inched back into position early in the game and closed the gap to two, but Alabama responded and pulled away late in the game off a serving run by Hudson. Aune ended game two the same way she started it by acing the Bulldogs from behind the service line.
Alabama controlled game four with tough serving from Amy Pauly, Hudson and Bridget Fuentez. The Tide built a fourteen point lead late in the game that Georgia could not overcome.
Alabama is back in action next weekend as the Tide plays host to Kentucky and Tennessee in the second half of conference action.
