Alabama
14-5, 3-3SEC
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Mississippi State
11-9, 3-3SEC
Alabama Volleyball Defeats Mississippi State in Four Sets Wednesday
10/12/2016 10:38:00 PM | Volleyball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama volleyball made its return to Foster Auditorium after three-straight road matches with a four-set win over Mississippi State Wednesday night, falling in the first set 21-25 before winning three straight by scores of 25-20, 25-20 and 25-21.
Alabama (14-5, 3-3 SEC) hit .315 as a team, its highest hitting percentage in SEC play this season, while limiting Mississippi State (11-9, 3-3 SEC) to a .208 clip. Leah Lawrence led the way with a season-high .600 hitting percentage and was equally strong at the service line, scoring four aces for the second-straight match. Brittany Thomas posted her second double-double of the season, finishing with 11 kills and 15 digs along with a season-best .409 hitting percentage. Quincey Gary, making her second start at libero, led the defensive effort in the back row with a career-best 22 digs.
The two teams battled back and forth early in set one until Mississippi State scored three-straight points to break a 10-10 tie, moving ahead 13-10 as Alabama called a timeout. The Bulldogs maintained its lead for the remainder of the set, leading by the same margin late at the Tide's second timeout, 23-20. MSU held on to win by four points, 25-21.
Tied at 10-10 again in set two, it was Alabama that began to pull away this time, scoring five unanswered points to lead 15-10 at the media timeout. Alabama continued to extend its lead, using a 7-4 run to move ahead 22-14 before Mississippi State was forced to take its first team timeout. The Tide reached set point, 24-17, but the Bulldogs battled to keep the set going with three-straight points as Alabama looked to stop the momentum with a timeout leading 24-20. Krystal Rivers ended the set on the next rally with her 18th kill of the match to win, 25-20, and even the match at 1-1.
Mississippi State briefly pulled ahead 4-3 early in the third, but momentum quickly swung back Alabama's way courtesy of a 7-2 run to lead 10-6 at the Bulldogs' first timeout. MSU came out of the break with four-straight points to tie it back up at 10-10 and eventually retake the lead at 12-11. The lead was short-lived as the Tide went back on top 14-13 and continued to pull ahead after three-straight service aces by Lawrence to make it 17-13 as the Bulldogs took a timeout. Lawrence added a fourth-straight ace after the break and a block by Rivers made it 19-13 before Mississippi State finally earned a kill to stop the scoring streak. With Alabama leading 23-17, three-straight points by MSU cut the lead in half and forced the Tide to burn its first team timeout. The Tide scored back-to-back points following the break to win, 25-20, and take a 2-1 lead.
The Bulldogs scored the first two points of the fourth set but Alabama rallied in a big way, scoring seven unanswered points to pull away 7-2 and force a frustrated timeout for Mississippi State. The Tide added three more out of the break to make it a 10-2 game and leading by the same margin later, 16-8, Mississippi State cut the deficit down to four points at 18-14 but a Bulldog service error and a kill by Rivers gave the Tide a six-point lead at the 20-point mark, 20-14, as Mississippi State took its final team timeout. Another kill by Rivers made it 21-14 before MSU responded with four-straight points to draw within three and force the Tide to take its first team timeout. Alabama eventually reached set point, 24-20, and after a Rivers attack error to make it 24-21 she came back with her 31st kill of the match
Next up, Alabama faces Missouri (15-3, 6-0 SEC) on Sunday, Oct. 16 at 1:30 p.m. CT in Foster Auditorium. The match will be the Tide's annual Power of Pink event, an athletics initiative to raise breast cancer research awareness.
For the latest information on Alabama volleyball, follow the team on Twitter (@AlabamaVball), Instagram (AlabamaVball) and Facebook.
