Alabama
Tennessee
Volleyball Drops Tough Match to No. 19 Tennessee in Three
10/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 7, 2011
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The Alabama volleyball battled tough against the 19th ranked Tennessee Lady Vols, but it wasn't enough as the Crimson Tide lost the Southeastern Conference match, 3-0 (23-25, 22-25, 15-25), at the Thompson-Boling Arena on Friday night. Andrea McQuaid paced the Tide with 13 kills and added 13 assists for her SEC-leading 11th double-double of the season
Playing without junior outside hitter Kayla Fitterer, Alabama (9-9, 2-5 SEC) played tough against the conference's top team. With the SEC's number two player in kills out of the lineup, McQuaid matched her career-high with 13 kills and posted a .428 hitting percentage, committing just two errors on 23 attempts.
Filling in for Fitterer was sophomore Shelbi Goode, who connected on a season-high nine kills. Cortney Warren added eight kills and Brianne Vande Griend had five kills for UA. Stephanie Riley led the Tide with 23 assists and Cristina Arenas had a match-high 14 digs. Alabama posted a .238 hitting percentage in the match and recorded a total of four blocks.
Tennessee (14-2, 7-0 SEC), the only unbeaten team in conference play, got a match-high 15 kills from Kelsey Robinson, while Leslie Cikra had 13 kills and a .524 hitting percentage. Mary Pollmiller had 39 assists and Robinson led the Lady Vols with 13 digs.
Alabama fell behind 8-2 in the first set, before the Tide battled back to cut the deficit to 9-11 following a kill by Shelbi Goode. The Lady Vols extended their lead to 14-9, but UA answered with a 5-1 run to get within one at 14-15. After Tennessee pushed its lead to 23-17, the Tide made one last run in the set, getting within one (23-24) before UT's Kelsey Robinson put the set away with her fourth kill of the set.
The second set started with Tennessee opening a 7-3 lead before Alabama rallied to take its first lead of the match at 11-10 following a block and a pair of kills by Goode. Following the Tennessee timeout, the Lady Vols responded to take a 17-14 lead before UA rallied again to even the set at 19-19. During the stretch run of the set, Tennessee outscored the Tide 6-3 to take a 2-0 lead in the match following a 25-22 win in the second set.
The third set started out much like the first two, as Tennessee opened an early 7-2 lead before the Tide called a timeout. This time, the Tide could not rally back, as the Lady Vols opened a 21-11 lead before putting the match away with a 25-15 victory in the third set. Tennessee posted a .448 hitting percentage in the set, while the Tide was held to a .172 mark in the final set.
Alabama returns to SEC action on Sunday when it travels to Lexington, Ky., to take on the Kentucky Wildcats (15-3, 6-1 SEC). First serve is slated for 12:30 p.m. CT, from Memorial Coliseum.
