Alabama
Auburn
Volleyball Tames Tigers
9/26/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 26, 2008
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Behind its best offensive outing of the season, the Alabama volleyball team downed Auburn 3-1 (20-25, 25-19, 25-15, 25-15) Friday night at The CAVE. The Crimson Tide finished with 58 kills and hit .398 for the match. With the win, Alabama rolls to 8-4 on the season and 1-2 in the SEC. The Tigers drop to 5-9 overall and 0-3 in the conference.
Brooks Webster led all players on offense with a career-high 23 kills and hit .450 percent. Lindsey Buteyn also had double-digit kills with 10. Leading the defensive front was Amy Pauly and Webster, who both tallied 16 digs each. After setting a career-high seven kills against Tennessee last weekend, Lauren Martin set a new career-best with nine kills. She also distributed 38 assists.
"One of the things I told Lauren that would really help our team would be if she could be more offensive and score early," Head Coach Judy Green said. "It would help our outside hitters a lot. She opened up a ton of things for us tonight. She set a tremendous match."
The Tide got off to a good start, earning the first points of the set on a Mary Catherine Aune service ace. The Tigers fought back and got two big kills to put them up 8-4. Buteyn and Salstrand teamed up for a big block to get the Tide within one point at 9-8 but the Tigers had too much momentum.
Alabama rebounded after a tough first set and came out strong in the second. Alyssa Meuth got the first kill of the set followed by a Buteyn kill, to give the Tide a 2-0 lead. The set went back and forth until a Calli Johnson kill, giving Alabama the lead at 12-11. Webster had seven kills in the second set, and three other members of the squad earning three kills.
The Tide continued to roll in the third set. After being down early, 6-4, Alabama rattled off eight straight points. The Tide remained strong, putting up another four straight points to give it an 18-10 lead before Auburn was forced to call a timeout to regroup. Johnson and Salstrand teamed up for a block to cap off the set.
The fourth set also saw the Tide putting up strings of points at key times in the match. After dropping the first point on an Auburn kill, the Tide earned another round of eight straight points. Buteyn and Martin racked up back-to-back kills to give Alabama a 14-8 lead. Aune had a key service ace to put the Tide up 16-10, and the Tigers never recovered. A Salstrand kill finished the set and match for Alabama.
Green was not only proud of the win, but also of how her squad responded after a tough first set.
"I'm really proud of our team," said Green. "I think our coaching staff did a tremendous job tonight of helping our players through that rough start and helping them trust themselves and keep believing in what they are doing."
Alabama ups its series standing with Auburn to 39-26, but more importantly the Tide has won 16 of the previous 17 outings. Alabama and Auburn will meet a second time this season on Nov. 2 when Alabama travels to Auburn.
The Tide continues its home stand next weekend when it hosts Florida on Oct. 3 at 7:00 p.m. (CST) and South Carolina on Oct. 5 at 1:30 p.m. (CST). The matchup with the Gators will serve as Alabama's annual "Cram the CAVE" night where the first 500 fans will receive a free t-shirt.
