Tide Volleyball Competes in Two Spring Events; Finale This Weekend
4/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ?? The Crimson Tide volleyball team has completed two of its three outings in the 2007 spring season and finishes its schedule this weekend at the ACC/SEC Volleyball Challenge at Georgia Tech University in Atlanta.
“Our number one goal this spring is to develop more consistency in our team play,” Alabama head coach Judy Green said. “That is something that we have been hammering home with our players since day one of the spring season. Within that philosophy, we are seeing good strides being made by a variety of individuals, from freshmen all to way to our seniors. The spring is about getting players who didn’t play a lot in the fall match experience and helping them develop skills they are going to need to compete for a position in the fall.”
Alabama, coming off of its second consecutive NCAA Tournament berth, has appeared in events at Middle Tennessee State and in a single-match scrimmage at instate rival UAB.
At MTSU, the Tide went 3-1 at the 15-team event, recording wins over Tennessee Chattanooga, Virginia Tech and SEC rival Mississippi State. The team’s loss came to Furman, a team that went 19-11 a year ago in the Southern Conference.
“I think the Middle Tennessee tournament gave us a chance to see a variety of different lineups,” Green said. “We tried to stay with that theme of consistency and didn’t make a ton of changes to our lineup. We had a mindset coming in and stuck with that. I was pleased with how we stayed composed and played like a veteran team when things weren’t perfect. I think that’s a step forward for our team.”
Playing against the rival Blazers last week, the Tide won all three games against UAB in Birmingham.
“It was the second opportunity to modify our lineup to see a different look offensively,” Green said. “I thought we passed the ball very well and were able to side-out efficiently. One of the reasons why I wanted to play at UAB was to play in their arena, because that’s the size of arena we see in the fall. We have struggled passing in those types of building in the past, but we did a great job up there. It was also really fun because there were over 300 people there, making it feel a lot like an in-season match.”
At the ACC/SEC Volleyball Challenge in Atlanta this weekend, the Tide faces four ACC teams, with Clemson, Duke, Florida State and Georgia Tech on the schedule. The Blue Devils advanced to the second round of the 2006 NCAA Volleyball tournament.
“We are looking forward to another event to see if we can be better than we were a week ago,” Green said. “It’s going to be a fun tournament with two very good volleyball conferences and it is a chance to go after each other. Our kids are excited about the opportunity to play some of the teams we will face and keep trying to find more and more consistency. I like where we are and what we are doing, so if we continue to grow and stay healthy it will be a successful spring season for us.”
