Alabama
Tennessee
Volleyball Drops Close Match to Tennessee
10/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 16, 2009
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The volleyball team dropped a hard-fought four set match (26-24, 25-22, 22-25, 25-23) Friday night to Tennessee in the CAVE. With the loss, the Crimson Tide falls to 6-13 on the season and 4-5 versus Southeastern Conference opponents, while the Lady Vols improve to 13-5 overall and 6-2 in the league.
"I thought we played with a lot of determination tonight," said head coach Judy Green. "For about 85 percent of each set we executed well. Each set we lost, we had leads in and in the middle just lost out focus and determination to sideout. We also cannot expect to win a match when we miss serves or get aced on after the set has reached 20 points."
Sophomore Ashley Frazier led both teams in kills on the night with 15. Senior Brooks Webster and junior Alyssa Meuth followed with 13 kills and 11 kills, respectively. Webster also had the most digs for the Tide with a season-high 19.
Tennessee was the first to get on the board, but Alabama kept close and soon took the lead off a Lady Vol attack error setting the score at 4-3. Tennessee would jump in front again moments later building as much as a three-point edge on the Tide. In what would turn into a set of small runs by both teams, Alabama grabbed its second lead of the first behind the efforts of a 5-1 drive bringing the score to 13-12. The Tide held on until a Tennessee kill put the Lady Vols back in front for the final time at 20-19. Alabama was able to tie the set twice, at 23 and 24, but a pair of kills from Tennessee delivered the final blow to close out the first 26-24.
Thanks to a Webster kill and a pair of ball handling errors for the Lady Vols, the Tide was able to commandeer a 3-0 lead to start the second. Alabama continued to distance itself from Tennessee and looked to be well in control of the set forcing the Lady Vols to call two quick timeouts. Following the second stoppage in play, Tennessee was able to string together a 6-2 run that would tie the frame late at 22 all. After a Tide timeout, the Lady Vols rattled off a trio of points that included two kills and a service ace to end the second 25-22.
Alabama, again, came out strong catapulting to a 9-2 lead in the third. Much of the middle of the set resembled the second with the Tide holding a comfortable buffer, until Tennessee formulated another 6-2 run to even out the score at 17-17. The Lady Vols would fail to give up their edge for the next few series, before a pair of points that went in favor of Alabama put the Tide back in front 20-19. Tennessee was able to fight off three set-point attempts, but Meuth's sixth kill of the set put it away for Alabama by a score of 25-22.
The beginning of the fourth started out close with the Tide getting on top early, but it eventually began to swing more and more in favor of Alabama. The Tide was up by four with the score set at 17-13 when the Lady Vols put up four consecutive points for the first tie of the frame since 1-1. Despite several attempts from Tennessee, Alabama was able to hold on to its advantage until back-to-back points gave the Lady Vols a 23-22 lead. Webster would throw down a kill for the sixth tie of the fourth, but a kill and service ace by Tennessee gave it the 25-23 win in the set to take the match 3-1.
Alabama returns to the court Sunday at 1:30 p.m. (CST) in the CAVE against eighth-ranked Kentucky.
