Alabama
Southern Miss
Volleyball Sweeps Southern Miss to Open Weekend in Montgomery
9/12/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - After Alabama narrowly defeated Southern Miss in the opening set of Friday's match, the Crimson Tide won convincingly in sets two and three to secure the sweep over the Golden Eagles to open the weekend at the ISTAP Collegiate Cup 2.
Alabama (6-2) just edged out the opening set over Southern Miss (7-3), 25-23, but charged ahead to win set two, 25-11, and set three, 25-15. Kat Hutson led the Tide offensively with 11 kills on 26 swings, while Krystal Rivers was close behind with 10 kills on 33 attempts. The Tide played well at the service line with eight aces, led by Rivers with three while Brittany Thomas and Kryssi Daniels each earned two. At the net, Bruna Evangelista led the way with five blocks while Leah Lawrence added three along with a .429 attack percentage.
The opening set was the most tightly contested of the three, as the score was tied six times though the lead only changed twice. The first of those lead changes came almost immediately, as Alabama scored the opening point but Southern Miss answered with back-to-back points to move ahead, 2-1. Alabama would tie the set four times before finally retaking the lead, 15-14, off an ace by Rivers. The Tide started to pull away, using a 5-1 run to move ahead 20-15 as Southern Miss used both of its timeouts during the run. Alabama reached set point, 24-18, but the Golden Eagles wouldn't go down easily as they rattled off five unanswered points to draw within one, 24-23. Hutson finished it off the Tide on the next point as Alabama narrowly avoided the comeback attempt to win set one, 25-23.
It was Southern Miss that scored the first point of set number two, but the Tide quickly rallied to move back ahead 9-5 as the Golden Eagles took its first timeout. A 6-1 run would extend the lead to 15-6, forcing another Southern Miss timeout, and the Tide would cruise to the finish line and win, 25-11. The 14-point victory is tied for the largest margin of victory for Alabama in a set so far this season.
Tied at 6-6 in set three, three-straight points by Alabama made it 9-6 as the Tide were eyeing its second sweep of the season. Alabama kept rolling towards a 15-7 lead, forcing the Golden Eagles into taking its final timeout. Each team would score eight points, with the Tide now leading 23-15, and an attack error by Southern Miss and a block by Rivers and Katherine White would seal it as the Tide won, 25-15, to secure the sweep.
Alabama concludes its final non-conference road trip with two matches on Saturday, Sept. 13. The Tide start the day bright and early with an 8:30 a.m. CT match against the host Alabama State Hornets (3-7) before facing the Towson Tigers (7-0) at 1:30 p.m.
