Alabama
Southern Illinois
Volleyball Falls to Southern Illinois to Close Hawkeye Challenge
8/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Aug. 29, 2010
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The volleyball team closed out the Hawkeye Challenge with a 3-0 (26-24, 25-19, 25-23) loss to Southern Illinois Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The loss drops the Crimson Tide to 1-2 on the season, while the Salukis improve to 2-1 overall.
"We now know what we need to work on in practice this week," Alabama head coach Judy Green said. "We need to be more aggressive and assertive at the net from a blocking standpoint and need to improve on our middle hitter transition."
Senior Alyssa Meuth led all hitters in the match with 16 kills, which is two shy of her career high. Freshman Brianne Vande Griend hit .429 in the match with eight kills and two errors off 14 attempts. Both sophomores Kelsey Anderson and Kayla Fitterer registered double-figure digs in the match with 12 and 10, respectively.
Alabama grabbed the early edge in the first, but Southern Illinois stayed close and eventually jumped in front with a 5-1 run to lead 9-8. The Saluki advantage would not last long as the Tide used a 7-1 scoring drive that included five kills to take the 16-11 lead. Southern Illinois refused to go away, however, and came back to tie the frame at 22-22. A Meuth kill at 23-24 helped Alabama avoid the first set point, but a Saluki block and Tide attack error gave the opening set to Southern Illinois 26-24.
The second set remained close with the lead never reaching more than two points until a series of errors by Alabama put the Salukis up 14-11. The Tide cut its deficit to one on three occasions, but it was unable to get any closer as Southern Illinois closed the set on a 7-2 run, capped off by a pair of kills, to take the 25-19 victory in the second.
Alabama came out blazing in the third taking a quick 4-0 lead. The Tide continued to stay in front until a 7-2 run by the Salukis gave Southern Illinois its first advantage of the set at 12-11. From there, the Salukis steadily built on their lead pulling ahead by as many as four. A trio of kills, two from Fitterer and one from Meuth, brought Alabama within one at 21-20, but unfriendly errors for the Tide down the stretch awarded the set to Southern Illinois by the narrowest of margins, 25-23.
For the match, the Salukis hit .344 compared to the Tide's .284, however Alabama collected five more kills than Southern Illinois 45-40. The Salukis were dominant at the net registering 7.0 blocks to the Tide's zero rejections. Alabama out-dug Southern Illinois 41-26.
"Today, when we had an opportunity to put ourselves ahead one set to none we gave it up due to a lack of execution on the defensive end," Green added. "In set three we came back strong, and I really liked our team personality. That is the way we need to play all match long. Had it not been for three service errors late we would have won that set. If we do not miss those serves it is a completely different match because we were stealing the momentum at that point. We will be better next weekend."
Next up, Alabama hosts its one, and only, home tournament of the season when it welcomes Toledo, Furman and UAB to Tuscaloosa for the 2010 Bama Bash. The Tide takes on the Rockets on Friday, Sept. 3 at noon CT and the Paladins at 7 p.m. CT. Alabama will close out the tournament on Saturday, Sept. 4 against the Blazers at 1 p.m. CT.
