Volleyball Makes Home Debut with Sweep Over UAB
9/16/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - In front of an audience of 890 fans at its home opener, Alabama impressed with a 3-0 sweep over in-state foe UAB at Foster Auditorium.
Alabama (9-2) earned its fourth-straight sweep, downing UAB (3-8) by an average margin of 9.6 points per set, including a 25-11 victory in set two that is tied for the largest margin of victory for the Crimson Tide this season. Redshirt sophomore Krystal Rivers continued to impress, posting a season-high .615 hitting percentage along with a match-leading 17 kills and three block assists. Freshman Kat Hutson posted double-digit kills for a fifth-straight match, knocking in 11 along with a solo block and block assist.
As a team, Alabama posted its second-highest hitting percentage of the season (.381), out-blocked the Blazers 7-3 and continued its strong play at the service line, tallying seven service aces led by Sierra Wilson with two.
The two teams were evenly matched in the early portion of set one, with Alabama up 10-9 after a UAB kill to draw the visitors within one. Alabama started to pull away after that point, using an 8-3 run to build an 18-12 lead as UAB took its first timeout. The Blazers would score a point out of the break but two kills by Hutson and a kill by Rivers made it 21-13 as UAB took its final timeout. The visitors would only score two more points in the remainder of the frame, as the Tide closed out the set by a score of 25-16.
Tied at 6-6 in set two, the Tide put together a 6-1 run to move ahead 12-7, forcing a UAB timeout. Alabama continued to widen the lead, as three kills, a block and a service ace supplied a 5-3 run to make it an eight-point game, 17-9, as UAB took its final timeout. Just like the opening set, Alabama would only allow the Blazers to score two points following its final timeout as the Tide cruised to a 25-11 victory, tied for the largest margin of victory this season.
UAB briefly held a lead to open the third set, 5-2, but Alabama would fight back to tie it at 7-7 and score five additional unanswered points to move ahead 12-7, forcing a Blazer timeout at the midway point of the set. Each team would score five points to make it 17-12 and back-to-back kills by Rivers would make it 19-12 as UAB burned its final timeout, looking for a strategy to avoid a sweep. The Blazers would chip away at the lead and draw within five, down 22-17, but back-to-back points for the Tide brought up match point, 24-17. UAB would stave off elimination briefly with two points but a kill by Hutson eventually sealed it as the Tide won, 25-19, to seal its fourth-straight sweep.
This weekend, Alabama hosts the Crimson-White Tournament, starting on Friday, Sept. 19 with matches against FIU at Noon CT and San Diego State at 7 p.m. The following day, Alabama will close out the weekend with a 7 p.m. match against Clemson.