Volleyball Travels to Samford on Tuesday Night
8/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Aug. 29, 2011
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - 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
Scouting the Samford Bulldogs
Samford enters Tuesday's match with a 3-0 record after posting three wins in the Samford/UAB Invitational over the weekend. The Bulldogs posted wins over Troy (3-0), UNC Asheville (3-0) and Arkansas State (3-2), winning the final set 15-13. A member of the Southern Conference, Samford enters Tuesday's match averaging 13.3 kills, 14.9 digs and 2.9 blocks per set. The Bulldogs are hitting .295 as a team after three matches.
Leading the Bulldogs are Lauren Hutchinson and Elizabeth Neisler, who have 40 and 36 total kills respectively. Hutchinson tallied half of her kills in the final match of the tournament against Arkansas State, while Neisler paced the Bulldogs with 13 kills in the opener against Troy and 16 in the straight sets win over UNC Asheville. Casey Garvey has 125 of the team's 133 assists and is averaging 11.36 assists per set. Alexis Bauer posted a team-best 51 digs over the opening weekend and is averaging 4.64 digs per set.
In a series that dates back to the 1989 season, Alabama leads the all-time series with Samford, 17-0. Tuesday's meeting will be the first since 2008 and just the second meeting since the 2001 season. Alabama is 7-0 all-time in matches played in Birmingham between the two schools. In the last meeting at Samford, the Tide posted a three-set win on Oct. 30, 2001. UA posted a 3-0 win in Tuscaloosa during the 2008 campaign in the last meeting of the all-time series.
Fitterer Garners First All-Tournament Honors
Kayla Fitterer, a 2011 Preseason All-SEC selection, was named the Hampton Inn Bama Bash Most Valuable Player. Fitterer posted double-doubles in all three matches, including match-highs in kills in all three UA contests. The selection to the all-tournament teams was her first as a member of the Crimson Tide. Fitterer finished the weekend with 58 total kills to average 4.83 kills per set, while hitting .368 in three matches. In addition to her team-leading kills, she was second on the team with 43 digs to average 3.58 digs per set. She averaged 21.5 points per match over the weekend.
Coach Allen Closes in on 500 Victories
In his 20th season as a college head coach, first-year coach Ed Allen has a 3-0 record in 2011 to bring his career record to 497-183 (.730), just three wins shy of 500 victories. 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. Allen entered the season ranked 28th among active Division I coaches in career victories.
Looking Back at Last Week
Alabama opened the 2011 season with three wins in the Hampton Inn Bama Bash to capture the tournament title for the second straight year. The tournament championship marked the fourth Bama Bash title for the Crimson Tide in the eight years of the event. UA opened the event with a straight-set win over Alabama State on Friday, before posting a 3-1 win over Austin Peay to close-out the first day. With both teams entering the final match with 2-0 records, Alabama defeated Texas State, 3-2, on Saturday night to take home the tournament title.
Bama Opens 3-0 for First Time in Since 2004
It has been six years since the Alabama volleyball team opened a season with a 3-0 record. Following three straight wins in the Hampton Inn Bama Bash last week, UA is 3-0 for the first time since the 2004 campaign, when the Tide started 8-0. The 2004 squad went on the win a SEC Western Division and finish the season 21-9 overall.
Three Named to Hampton Inn Bama Bash All-Tournament Team
After winning the Hampton Inn Bama Bash championship, three Alabama players garnered all-tournament recognition. Kayla Fitterer, who had a double-double in all three matches, was named the Most Valuable player. Sophomore hitter Cortney Warren and junior middle blocker Leigh Moyer were all-tournament selections for the Tide. Warren finished the tournament with 32 kills (second on the team) and a team-best .418 hitting percentage with just four errors in 67 attempts. Moyer posted a .333 hitting percentage with 18 total kills and five blocks in the event.
Cortney Warren Hitting Earns High Marks
Cortney Warren, a transfer from Oklahoma, averaged 10.6 kills per match with a team-best .418 hitting percentage in the Hampton Inn Bama Bash last week. Warren had a career-high 12 kills in the opening match against Alabama State and led the Tide with a .647 (12-1/17) hitting percentage. In match two, Warren hit .286 against Austin Peay, but recovered to post a team-high .409 (9-0/22) hitting percentage in the championship match against Texas State.
Other Notables from Last Week
Junior libero Kelsey Anderson tallied 57 digs in the tournament, leading the Tide in all three tournament matches. Oklahoma transfer Andrea McQuaid finished her first three matches at Alabama with 17 kills, 62 assists, 31 digs and three blocks to average 7.3 points per match. Freshman middle blocker Katherine White started all three matches for the Tide and finished the tournament with 12 kills and a team-best 10 blocks.
Riley in Bama's Top-10 for Career Assists
Senior setter Stephanie Riley added a team-high 78 assist in three matches of the Hampton Inn Bama Bash to bring her career total of assists at Alabama to 1,368. In the process, she passed Erin Price (2000-03) to move into ninth all-time in assists at the Capstone. Riley will need 86 assists to pass Kayla Schmidt (2009-10) for eighth all-time at Alabama.
Later This Week
The Tide closes the week with three games in the Doubletree Invitational, hosted by SMU, Sept. 2-3. Alabama will play Lamar on Friday, Sept. 2 at 4:30 p.m. CT, before battling TCU (10 a.m. CT) and SMU (7 p.m. CT) on Saturday, Sept. 3.
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