Alabama
Miami
Volleyball Falls to Miami at Hurricane Invitational
9/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 6, 2008
CORAL GABLES, Fla. - The volleyball team dropped a hard-fought, four-set match to Miami 3-1 (25-22, 16-25, 20-25, 22-25) Saturday at the Hurricane Invitational held at the Knight Sports Complex. With the loss, the Tide dips to 4-2 on the season, while Miami ups its season standing to 6-0.
Today's match marked the 13th meeting between the Tide and Hurricanes where the series now stands at 5-8. Brooks Webster had her third double-double effort for Alabama this season with 15 kills and 12 digs. Lauren Martin finished the match with 41 assists, while Amy Pauly anchored the defense with 20 digs.
"The biggest difference in this match was that Miami served and passed better than we did," said head coach Judy Green. "We said before the match the team that did both those things was going to win, and that's what happened. All in all, this was a good tournament for us because we had to adjust to the different styles of play."
Miami jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first set before Brooks Webster put the Tide on the board with a kill from Martin. The Hurricanes continued to build on their lead going up by as many as seven, but Alabama rallied back with a 10-4 run to tie the score at 20-20. On the next play, Pauly delivered a service ace giving the Tide its first lead of the set. Miami tied it back up one more time before Calli Johnson placed a tip perfectly in the open court to put Alabama on top for the rest of the set. The Tide closed out the first with a kill from Webster and block by Elizabeth Salstrand and Johnson.
In the second the Hurricanes got off to a quick start again scoring the first four points of the set. Alabama cut it to within three early on, but Miami pulled away midway through the set and finished on an 8-3 run.
The Tide attacked first in the third set, but found itself behind after the Hurricanes took the lead at 4-3. Alabama would tie it up on two occasions but would not come within two of the lead for the duration of the set.
"In the second and third sets we were out of our system about 75 percent of the time," said Green. "It is extremely hard to be efficient in circumstances like that."
The fourth was a battle from start to finish with six ties throughout the set. Miami held the lead for most of the set, before the Tide took the 21-20 advantage. Back-to-back errors for Alabama gave the Hurricanes the lead that they would hold for the rest of the set giving them the match win.
"I think our team recovered with focus and competitiveness at the end of the third and all of the fourth," Green said. "I really liked how we were competing in the fourth, but unfortunately we had some untimely errors that put us inches away from getting to a fifth set."
In Saturday's action, Alabama took matches against South Dakota State (1-5) and Virginia Commonwealth (3-2). Webster collected her second double-double of the season with 20 kills and 13 digs against the Jackrabbits, while Alyssa Meuth posted a career-high 16 kills and Martin a career-best 50 assists.
"We are disappointed we didn't win the tournament, but we are determined to make next weekend a different result," Green added.
Alabama will host the Crimson Tide Invitational Sept. 12-13 for its final non-conference matchups before heading into SEC competition. The Tide plays Samford at 1:00 p.m. (CST) and South Florida at 7:00 p.m. (CST) Friday and closes the tournament with Murray State at 1:00 p.m. (CST) on Saturday. Tickets for all matches will be available at the door. Contact the Alabama Ticket Office at 1-877-TIDETIX or visit www.rolltide.com for more information.
