Volleyball Hosts Mississippi State Friday
11/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 27, 2008
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The volleyball team (15-13, 8-11 SEC) will host Mississippi State (6-24, 1-18 SEC) Friday in the CAVE for the final match of the 2008 regular season. At the conclusion of the contest the Crimson Tide will honor its two seniors, Lindsey Buteyn and Amy Pauly, for their four years of contribution to the squad.
"We want to finish our season with complete team effort," said head coach Judy Green.
Alabama and Mississippi State will meet for the 50th time in program history. In the earlier meeting this season, the Tide swept the Bulldogs 3-0 by scores of 25-17, 25-23, 25-21. Alabama owns the 36-13 series advantage.
Most recently, the Tide suffered a pair of road losses to South Carolina and Florida. In Friday's matchup, the Gamecocks won the first set 25-14 and outlasted Alabama in the second 33-31. In the third, the Gamecocks took the 25-21 edge to win the match. Alabama was led on offense by junior Brooks Webster, who had a match-high 17 kills while hitting .421 percent from the court. Freshman Stephanie Riley was the Tide's leading ball distributer with 34 assists, and senior Amy Pauly topped the team with 11 digs. On Sunday, the Gators won the first two sets by a score of 25-16 and finished off the match with a 25-20 win in the third. Webster had eight of Alabama's 22 kills, and sophomore Calli Johnson had a hand on all five of the Tide's blocks. Sophomore Alyssa Meuth scooped up a team-best nine digs in the match.
The Bulldogs also dropped contests to Florida and South Carolina last weekend, both in three sets. Leading Mississippi State on offense this season is Ioana Demian, who averages better than 3.05 kills per set. The Bulldogs have one of the best blockers in the league in Ashley Newsome. Newsome currently averages 1.06 rejections per frame.
Regular admission to the match is $3 for adults and free for Alabama students, however, those who present a football ticket to Saturday's football game against Auburn will be let in free. Fans unable to make it to the match can catch all the action on WVUA TV and WVUA-FM.
