Volleyball Welcomes Tennessee on Friday
10/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 23, 2008
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The volleyball team (10-8, 3-6) hosts Tennessee (13-8, 6-4) Friday night at the CAVE with opening serve slated for 7:00 p.m. (CST). The Crimson Tide looks to pick up a couple of key wins this weekend as it enters the second half of conference play.
"This is going to be a very tough weekend for all three teams," said head coach Judy Green. "We are starting the second half of SEC play, and there is a lot on the line for all conference teams. We want to be a better team in this half of the season."
Alabama lost a pair of conference matches last weekend to Georgia and LSU by scores of 3-0 and 3-2, respectively. Brooks Webster led the Tide on offense in both matches with 11 kills against the Bulldogs and 16 against the Tigers. Amy Pauly continued to pace the defense with a 16-dig effort on Friday and another 13 digs on Sunday, while the assists were handed out fairly equally by both Stephanie Riley and Lauren Martin. In Alabama's match with Georgia, the Tide's serving game was very impressive as it threw down 11 aces. Pauly led the team with four, followed by Riley with three aces.
Tennessee is coming off a three-win week as it swept East Tennessee State and Ole Miss, and won a 3-1 decision against Arkansas. The Lady Vols are led up front by SEC Offensive Player of the Week Nikki Fowler, who averages 3.61 kills per set. Chloe Goldman anchors the Tennessee defense with her 4.48 digs per frame, while both Kelsey Mahoney and Michaela Hanakova set up much of the offense averaging better than five assists per set a piece.
The current series between the two programs stands at 23-12 in favor of the Lady Vols. Alabama and Tennessee have already met once this season during the SEC opening weekend in September. The Lady Vols picked up the 3-1 win on their home court in Knoxville, Tenn.
"If we are focused and have the right team mentality daily we feel like this will propel us as one of the teams that could make a lot of noise down the stretch," added Green. "It has to be a total team effort by everyone involved in our program to make this happen."
Friday's match has been deemed "Books for Blocks" night where all fans that present a book will receive $1 off admission. Books will be donated to the Tuscaloosa Public Library. Regular admission to the event is $3 for adults and free for Alabama students and children. Should you be unable to attend the match, catch all the action on WVUA-TV as well as WVUA-FM.
