Volleyball Hits the Road to take on Arkansas and Mississippi
10/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 8, 2009
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The volleyball team (6-10, 4-2 SEC) will travel west this weekend to take on division foes Arkansas (8-9, 2-4 SEC) and Mississippi (6-10, 0-6 SEC). Friday the Crimson Tide will head to Fayetteville, Ark. to begin the weekend with a match against the Razorbacks starting at 7:00 p.m. (CST). After its match with Arkansas, Alabama will head south to Oxford, Miss. to take on the Mississippi Rebels Sunday in a 1:30 p.m. (CST) showdown.
"This is a pivotal weekend for each one of the teams in this series," said head coach Judy Green. "We only have four more matches left to wrap up the first round of SEC play, and we need to be hungry to finish as strong as we started against conference opponents. As the season progresses every team is fighting to reach their goals, and we need to keep our eyes forward on where we want to be. We have been training hard to improve the areas we need to work on, but we also want to continue to build on our strengths."
Last week the Tide split a pair of matches, beating Mississippi State 3-2 (16-25, 25-13, 25-21, 25-27, 15-12) and falling to LSU 3-1 (25-11, 21-25, 25-20, 25-22). With the loss to the Tigers, Alabama dropped to second in the SEC Western Division standings. Tide outside hitter Brooks Webster made her first start since opening weekend, coming off an injury that had kept her off the court for most of the season. The senior from Baltimore led the team with 13 kills against the LSU.
The Razorbacks also split a pair of SEC matches last weekend, beating Georgia 3-0 on the road before dropping a 3-2 decision to Auburn. Arkansas is 8-9 overall this season, with a 2-4 mark in conference play thus far. The Razorbacks are led by freshman Jasmine Norton with a team high 3.47 kills per set. Norton, the SEC Freshman of the week for the second time in three weeks, is also second on the team in total digs with 102 this season.
The Rebels are still in search of their first conference win of the season after dropping their first six SEC match ups. They will have a chance to accomplish that on Friday against in-state rival Mississippi State, who is also winless in conference thus far. Mississippi is led by sophomores Katie Norris with 3.90 kills per set and Morgan Springer with 4.22 digs per set.
Fans can catch all the action from this weekend's matches by either watching live scoring or listening to a radio broadcast online by clicking here. In addition, Friday night's match can be seen via live webstream by clicking here.
The Crimson Tide returns home next weekend to face long time rival Tennessee and the current conference leader, Kentucky. Alabama's match against the Lady Vols is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 16, at 6:00 p.m. (CST), while the Tide will face off against the Wildcats Sunday, Oct. 18, at 1:30 p.m. (CST).
