Bama Volleyball Hosts South Carolina and No. 6 Florida
9/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.- The University of Alabama women's volleyball team hosts two formidable conference opponents this weekend as it enters its third week of SEC play. The Crimson Tide faces off against South Carolina tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. before hosting No. 6 Florida Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
Alabama heads into the weekend on a 4-0 conference run, the best start since 2000. All-American and SEC player of the week Crystal Hudson leads the conference in hitting percentage (.433) and is second in the conference in kills per game (4.57). Freshman Mary Catherine Aune leads the conference in aces per game (1.07) and is currently ranked 10th nationally. Senior setter Brigitte Slack is third in the conference in assists per game (12.50).
As a team, the Tide has an overall .256 team hitting percentage, good enough for second in the conference. Alabama is also second in the conference in service aces, averaging 2.14 per game and is tied with Florida in win-loss percentage.
"South Carolina is a very young and athletic team who has improved every week since SEC play began," said Alabama head coach Judy Green. "Florida is clearly one of the best volleyball teams in the nation. They will be the best team we have faced to date and we are going to have to have our ??A' game in order to compete with them. The edge they have is they make very few mistakes while forcing their opponents into many miscues. Our players and coaching staff welcome the next weekend of challenges and we will be prepared to compete."
South Carolina comes into the match on a four game losing streak after falling to No. 22 LSU and Ole Miss last weekend. The Gamecocks are off to their worst conference start since the program's inaugural year. South Carolina is led by Ivana Kujundzic who tops the team with a .250 hitting percentage and records 3.02 kills per game.
Florida heads into the match on an 11-match winning streak after defeating Ole Miss and No. 22 LSU last weekend. The Gators lead the conference in opponent hitting percentage (.076) and blocks (3.25/game) and are second in the conference in assists, kills and digs.
Live statistics and match results can be found at www.rolltide.com.
