Alabama
Arkansas
Volleyball Falls to Arkansas, 3-1, to Open SEC Play
9/16/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 16, 2011
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama volleyball team (6-5, 0-1 SEC) fell, 3-1, to Arkansas (9-3, 1-0 SEC) on Friday night in a four set match from Foster Auditorium. The Crimson Tide came out early to win the first set, 25-21, but was not able to take down the Razorbacks, dropping the next three sets, 25-8, 25-22 and 25-23.
"I'm real pleased with how we approached the first set, although we had some moments of inconsistency which we've seen all year," said head coach Ed Allen. "We broke down and everything came off in the second set and we're disappointed with our toughness in that set. Our ability to ball control, attack and we had too many unforced errors in the match. We like fact that our kids are playing hard, but they have to be more consistent and execute skills."
Junior Kayla Fitterer led the Tide in points with 17.5 while also posting her ninth double-double of the season, and 21st of her career, with 14 kills and 10 digs. Junior Leigh Moyer earned 11 points with a season-high 10 kills on 19 attempts for a .474 hitting percentage.
In front of a Foster Auditorium volleyball record crowd of 1,037 fans, senior Stephanie Riley and sophomore Andrea McQuaid both put up 10 digs along with 15 and 26 assists, respectively. Sophomore Cristina Arenas led the team in digs with 18.
Alabama got off to a good start, winning the first set 25-21 behind a .242 hitting percentage. In the set, Fitterer had four kills and Cortney Warren and Moyer had three kills each. With the score tied at 4-4, Bama went on an 8-3 run to take a 12-7 lead in the set. The lead reached as much as eight points (21-13), but Arkansas rallied to cut the deficit to 22-19 before the Tide closed out the set by four points.
Arkansas dominated the second set, winning 25-8. The Razorbacks hit .500 for the set while the Tide posted a -.062 hitting percentage.
The third set was tightly contested throughout. Alabama held three-point leads twice during the set, once at 13-10 and again at 16-13, but the Razorbacks rallied to take an 18-16 lead. UA scored the next two points to even the set at 18-18, but the Razorbacks got kills by Roslandy Acosta and Jasmine Norton to take the lead in the set for good. Arkansas led 24-20 before putting the set away 25-22 following a late UA surge.
Alabama led in the fourth set as well, but once again the Razorbacks rallied to take the set. With UA leading 16-15, Arkansas went on a 7-1 run to take a 22-17 lead. After Arkansas held match-point at 24-19, the Tide rallied for four straight points, including a pair of aces by Fitterer, but a kill by Amanda Anderson ended the set at 25-23, giving the Razorbacks a 3-1 win in the match.
Alabama returns to SEC play on Sunday with a 1:30 p.m. match against the LSU Tigers at Foster Auditorium.
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