Volleyball Opens SEC Slate at Mississippi on Friday
9/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 16, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The volleyball team returns to action Friday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. CT when it takes on Mississippi in Oxford at the Gillom Sports Center. The Crimson Tide enters the Southeastern Conference opener on a seven-match winning streak for an overall record of 8-2, while the Rebels stand at 6-3 on the season.
"We are about to start out the SEC portion of our schedule and open up with three Western Division opponents," Alabama head coach Judy Green said. "The Western Division is something that is very important to us. As we begin on the road at Mississippi, we know it is going to be tough."
Alabama is off to its best start since the 2005 season where it went 13-1 prior to SEC play. Last week, the Tide first swept Alabama A&M on Tuesday before heading to the CenturyLink Premier in San Marcos, Texas, where it beat North Texas in five sets and both the University of Tennessee at Martin and Texas State in three sets.
Senior Alyssa Meuth earned tournament Most Valuable Player honors, while sophomore Kelsey Anderson and freshman Shelbi Goode both captured a spot on the All-Tournament Team. This was Anderson's third all-tournament appearance of the season making her the first defensive player in school history to be named to every all-tournament team Alabama played in. Key performances in the week included Meuth's .600 hitting percentage outing against North Texas where she had 12 kills and zero errors and a career-high tying five blocks. In addition, junior Stephanie Riley recorded the second double-double of her career with 18 assists and 10 digs against the Mean Green.
Mississippi, most recently, captured the Magnolia Invitational crown with wins over Southern Miss, Louisiana-Lafayette, and Samford at home. The Rebels also have home wins over Texas Tech and Morehead State and a road victory versus Rice. Junior Regina Thomas leads the team with 2.74 kills per set. She also leads the Rebels, and ranks second in the SEC, with 1.34 blocks per set. Junior Morgan Springer stands at No. 2 in the league with 5.12 digs per set.
Alabama leads the all-time series with the Rebels 40-15, with Mississippi being victorious in just four of the last 22 matches. Last season, the Tide and Rebels split with the home team claiming the win. Alabama first visited Mississippi on Oct. 11 where the Rebels won 3-2. The Tide then got its revenge at home on Nov. 13 claiming a 3-0 win in Tuscaloosa.
"We want to be a little more creative in our offense this week," Green added. "Our team is fired up to open conference play. I really like this team. I like coaching this team. They are very quick to make adjustments in matches and really believe in what is going on."
Live scoring for Friday's match will be available and can be found by clicking here.
