Alabama
Mississippi
Volleyball Takes Down Mississippi in Four
9/28/2011 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 28, 2011
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama women's volleyball team posted its second straight Southeastern Conference victory with a 3-1 (20-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-20) victory over the Mississippi Rebels from Foster Auditorium on Wednesday night.
"We're clearly becoming a better ball control team, but still have a long way to go there," head coach Ed Allen said. "Out of serve receive were did a great job passing balls, once we settled down after the first set. We relied heavily in the fourth set on our block to terminate plays, as opposed to us extending rallies and digging balls."
After dropping the opening set, the Crimson Tide (8-7, 2-3 SEC) rallied to win the next three to post its first back-to-back SEC wins since winning three straight at the beginning of the 2009 conference schedule.
UA got solid offensive performance from Kayla Fitterer, as the junior outside hitter finished the night with a match-high 14 kills, while posting a .344 hitting percentage. Cortney Warren added 13 kills and Andrea McQuaid missed her third triple double of the season, as she finished the night with nine kills, 21 assists and 12 digs.
"As a whole I was pleased with Courtney's performance and she showed up at a critical time for us," Allen said. "Kayla Fitterer continues to do a tremendous job offensively, but I thought she had a great defensive effort tonight as well."
Mississippi's Regina Thomas led the Rebels (5-8, 1-4 SEC) with 13 kills, while Allegra Wells and Cortney Cunningham added 10 and 11 kills, respectively. Morgan Springer had a match-high 21 digs and Amanda Philpot had 46 assists to go along with five kills.
In the opening set, Alabama and Mississippi were tied at 16-16 after a service error by Craven. From there, the Rebels opened a 21-17 advantage before closing out the set 25-20. Alabama responded by winning the second set 25-21, as the Tide posted a .357 hitting percentage in the set, while the Rebels hit .212. Both Fitterer and McQuaid led the team with four kills in the set.
In the pivotal third set, the Rebels held a 21-16 lead following an error by Fitterer. From there, Alabama responded to win nine of the next 10 points to win the set 25-22. Christina Arenas served the final three points and had an ace that just cleared the net to give the Tide set point. After a timeout by Mississippi, Fitterer got her only kill of the set to give the Tide a 2-1 lead in the match. Warren's five kills in the set paced the Tide, while McQuaid and Leigh Moyer had three kills each.
UA continued to pressure the Mississippi hitters to start the fourth set, posting five of its nine blocks in the final set. Alabama got three blocks over the first 10 serves to open a 7-3 lead in the fourth. With the Tide leading 17-12, the Rebels made one final push to get within two points at 18-16 and again at 22-20, but a kill by Fitterer and a pair of errors by Mississippi ended the match.
Alabama returns to SEC play on Friday night against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. from Foster Auditorium.
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