Volleyball to Host Hampton Inn Bama Bash to Open Season
8/24/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Aug. 24, 2011
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama women's volleyball team opens the 2011 season with the Hampton Inn Bama Bash on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 26-27. Alabama opens the season with the first of three tournament matches on Friday against the Alabama State Hornets at noon from Foster Auditorium. Texas State and Austin Peay will play game two on Friday at 4 p.m., and the Crimson Tide and Austin Peay wrap-up day one with a 7 p.m. match. Day two begins at 10 a.m. with Alabama State and Austin Peay, game five of the tournament features the Lady Govs and Texas State at 3 p.m. and the Tide and the Bobcats close the event with a 7 p.m. contest on Saturday.
Hampton Inn Bama Bash
August 26-27, 2011
Location: Foster Auditorium
Audio: WVUA 90.7 FM (online at WVUA-FM.ua.edu)
Live Stats and Video: RollTide.com
Tournament Schedule
Friday, Aug. 26
Alabama vs. Alabama State Noon
Texas State vs. Alabama State 4 p.m.
Alabama vs. Austin Peay 7 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 27
Alabama State vs. Austin Peay 10 a.m.
Austin Peay vs. Texas State 3 p.m.
Alabama vs. Texas State 7 p.m.
VOLLEYBALL IS ON THE AIR!
For the 10th consecutive season WVUA-FM will broadcast Alabama volleyball matches on the radio and over the internet. The WVUA sports staff will broadcast all 14 Crimson Tide home matches. Friday's match against Alabama State will be available line on WVUA 90.7 FM, while the evening match will be available on the internet only at WVUA-FM.ua.edu. Saturday's match will air live on 90.7 FM.
UA AND THE BAMA BASH
Alabama will host the Hampton Inn Bama Bash for eighth consecutive year with the 2011 edition. The Crimson Tide has a 14-7 overall record in the tournament, posting championships in 2004, 2005 and 2010 with 3-0 records. The Tide defeated Toledo, Furman and UAB to capture the 2010 title. With the 2011 tournament, Hampton Inn has been the title sponsor for the Bama Bash five times including 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2011.
SCOUTING THE ALABAMA STATE HORNETS
Alabama State returns five players and added seven newcomers to the 2011 roster. The Lady Hornets return two key starters, 2010 SWAC Defensive Player of the Year junior libero Roselande Corneille and senior All-SWAC and Eastern Division performer setter Ana Pego.
Corneille finished last season with 528 digs and ranked 58th in the nation. Corneille was named the SWAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year as well as named to the first team All-SWAC honoree. Pego, who had 1,034 assists last season, also received first team All-SWAC preseason recognition at the setter position. Asia Manning received second team preseason honors at the outsider hitter spot. Alabama State was predicted to finish fourth in the SWAC Eastern Division.
Alabama leads the all-time series with Alabama State 10-0. Friday's match will mark the first meeting between the two in-state schools since 1995. Alabama swept the last match, 3-0, on Sept. 12, 1995.
SCOUTING THE AUSTIN PEAY LADY GOVS
Austin Peay was picked to finish second in the preseason Ohio Valley Conference coaches poll. Junior outside hitter Nikki Doyle was named to the OVC preseason team and Bill Egbert enters his first season as the head coach. In 2010, The Lady Govs posted a 26-8 overall record, a 14-4 conference mark and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
Doyle returns following a sophomore campaign that saw her named the league tournament's Most Valuable Player, received All-OVC honors and OVC All-Newcomer team recognition in 2010. She will be the OVC's top returning hitter after averaging 3.47 kills per set in 2010 and ranking third among league hitters in the category. Doyle's 427 total kills led the league last season.
Alabama leads the all-time series with Austin Peay 4-0. This season's meeting will be the first since 1995 when the Tide posted a 3-0 win over the Lady Govs in Tuscaloosa.
SCOUTING TEXAS STATE
Karen Chisum, the sixth winningest active NCAA Division I head coach, begins her 32nd season at Texas State with a roster that features eight returning letterwinners, including three starters, along with nine newcomers.
The Bobcats are coming off a 2010 season in which the team compiled a 19-12 record and finished second in the Southland Conference West Division. Texas State has averaged more than 21 wins per season over the past four years.
The 2011 season will be the final one in the Southland Conference for Texas State which will transition to the Western Athletic Conference beginning in 2012, giving the Bobcats one more opportunity to add to their five Southland Conference regular season championships and six SLC Tournament titles.
Texas State leads the all-time series 3-1. After the Bobcats won the first three matches of the all-time series, Alabama posted a 3-0 win last season in the CenturyLink Premier tournament in San Marcos, Texas. Last season's match marked the first between Alabama and Texas State in 16 years.
LOOKING BACK AT 2010
The Alabama volleyball team posted an 11-19 overall record in the final season under head coach Judy Green, closing out a 15-year tenure at the Capstone. The Crimson Tide posted a 3-17 mark in Southeastern Conference play to finish tied for fifth in the SEC Western Division. Kayla Fitterer was as second team All-SEC selection after leading the Tide with 403 kills. UA closed the season on a winning note, posting a 3-1 win over Mississippi State. UA hit .283 in the match with a season-high 9.0 blocks versus the Bulldogs. Fitterer tallied her 12th career double-double with 18 kills and 13 digs and Mary Catherine Aune led the Tide with 23 digs.
FITTERER HAS HISTORIC PERFORMANCE AGAINST KENTUCKY
Outside hitter Kayla Fitterer had a match for the ages on Nov. 7, 2010, against Kentucky as she recorded 34 kills and 24 digs. It is the first time in Tide history that a player has had 30-plus kills and 20-plus digs in the same match. She finished the match with 77 attempts, the fifth most in school history.
FITTERER NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-SEC TEAM
Junior outside hitter Kayla Fitterer was named to the 2011 Volleyball Preseason All-SEC Team. Fitterer was selected as one of the top 10 players in the SEC entering the 2011 season. She is coming off a stellar sophomore campaign where she led the SEC in kills per set with 3.92 in conference play and earned All-SEC Second Team honors. She is the 18th player in Crimson Tide history to be recognized by the conference.
COACH ALLEN CLOSES IN ON 500 VICTORIES
In his 20th season as a college head coach, first-year coach Ed Allen has a career record of 494-183 (.729) and is six wins shy of reaching 500 wins for his career. In five seasons at Division I Tulsa (2006-10) he collected 133 wins, in three seasons at Division II Presbyterian College (2003-05) he had 94 wins and in 11 seasons at Division III Anderson University (1992-2002) he has 267 victories.
LOOKING INSIDE THE ROSTER
The 2011 Crimson Tide volleyball roster includes 13 players, with seven returners and six newcomers. Captain Stephanie Riley is the only senior on the team, while fellow team captain Kayla Fitterer is one of three juniors on the squad. The junior class also includes middle blocker Leigh Moyer and libero Kelsey Anderson. Returners Brianne Vande Griend, Shelbi Goode and Kelsey Melito make up half of the sophomore class. The six newcomers include three transfers and three freshmen. Transfers Cristina Arenas, Andrea McQuaid and Cortney Warren complete the sophomore class, while Simone Henderson, Taylor Masterson and Katherine White comprise the incoming freshmen.
LOOKING INSIDE THE SCHEDULE
UA will play 31 matches, which include 14 contests in newly renovated Foster Auditorium. The Tide will play a schedule that includes 16 matches against 10 teams that made the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Those teams include Austin Peay, Ohio State, Penn and Alabama A&M during the non-conference schedule and two matches against LSU, Auburn, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and Florida during Southeastern Conference play. Alabama will play in three tournaments which include the Hampton Inn Bama Bash (Aug. 26-27), the Doubletree Invitational (Sept. 2-3) in Dallas, Texas, and the Rocket Classic (Sept. 9-10) in Toledo, Ohio.
RILEY IN BAMA TOP-10 IN CAREER ASSISTS
Senior setter Stephanie Riley enters her final season at the Capstone with 1,290 career assists to rank 10th all-time at Alabama. She will need 33 assists to pass Erin Price (2000-03) for ninth all-time and 164 to move ahead of Kayla Schmidt (2009-10) for eighth.
FOSTER AUDITORIUM
Beginning with the 2011 season, the Alabama volleyball team will return to newly renovated Foster Auditorium for all home matches. After playing the past 15 seasons in Coleman Coliseum and the C.A.V.E., Alabama returns to Foster where it played from 1974-81 and 1989-95. In 15 seasons at Foster Auditorium, the Tide posted a 161-68 (.700) overall record.
SEC VIDEO FEEDS/TELEVISION
Participating news affiliates can also select individual clips to insert directly into online stories. Television stations also have access to an FTP account to run content on-air. The SEC Affiliate Network is managed through XOS Digital. To join, please request a participation form from the program's director, Anna Marie Neri, at aneri@xosdigital.com or at 407-670-5049.
TWITTER, FACEBOOK AND YOUTUBE
In addition to RollTide.com, Alabama volleyball can be followed on Twitter (@AlabamaVBall) and Facebook (facebook.com/AlabamaVBall). Additionally, video content will be available on the Alabama women's volleyball YouTube channel (youtube.com/AlabamaVBall).
NEXT WEEK FOR THE TIDE
Alabama will play four road matches during the second week of the season, first traveling to Birmingham to take on the Samford Bulldogs on Tuesday, Aug. 30. The match is slated to begin at 6 p.m. from the Pete Hanna Center. The Tide closes the week with three games in the Doubletree Invitational, hosted by SMU. Alabama will play Lamar on Friday, Sept. 9 at 4:30 p.m. CT, before battling TCU (10 a.m. CT) and SMU (7 p.m. CT) on Saturday.
