Alabama
South Dakota
Alabama Volleyball Opens Season at Hurricane Classic
8/25/2016 9:00:00 AM | Volleyball
THIS WEEK
HURRICANE CLASSIC
Tulsa, Okla. - Reynolds Center
Friday Aug. 26 vs. South Dakota - 10 a.m. CT
Friday, Aug. 26 at Tulsa - 7 p.m. CT
Saturday, Aug. 27 vs. Incarnate Word - 11 a.m. CT
SCOUTING ALABAMA
- Alabama returns eight letterwinners from last season, including five starters, while welcoming eight newcomers to the roster.
- Alabama returns both of its AVCA All-Region honorees from last season in redshirt senior Krystal Rivers and junior Kat Hutson. The honor was Hutson's second accolade in as many seasons and Rivers' third, making Rivers the first three-time All-Region honoree in Alabama volleyball history. This was the third straight season in which the Crimson Tide has had multiple All-Region award winners. Prior to 2013, Alabama had never posted multiple All-Region honorees in a single season.
- Ed Allen returns for his sixth season at the helm of the program in 2016. He has guided the Crimson Tide to four-straight winning seasons, including two NCAA Tournament berths (2013-14), setting single-season win records at Alabama in each of those two seasons.
RETURN TO TULSA
This weekend's trip to Tulsa is the first in program history for Alabama but it marks a return visit for head coach Ed Allen, who spent five seasons (2006-10) leading the Golden Hurricane prior to his time in Tuscaloosa. There, he was twice named the Conference USA Coach of the Year, including AVCA Midwest Region Coach of the Year honors in 2010. Additionally, the trip reunites Allen with former Alabama assistant coach Ryan Willis, who is in his third season as the head coach at Tulsa.
KRYSTAL RIVERS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-SEC
The Southeastern Conference released its volleyball preseason coaches' poll and its preseason All-SEC team, with Alabama redshirt senior Krystal Rivers representing the Crimson Tide as one of nine athletes on the preseason team.
This marks Rivers' third consecutive appearance on the Preseason All-SEC team for Rivers. Heading into her final season with the Crimson Tide, Rivers has earned AVCA All-South Region honors in each of the last three seasons, including Third Team All-America honors in 2014. Last season, she led Alabama with 410 kills (4.06/set) and a .300 hitting percentage and was second in the conference in kills-per-set. As a team, the Tide was selected sixth in the coaches' poll with 90 points. Defending champion Texas A&M was selected to repeat with seven out of a possible 13 first-place votes.
ALABAMA TO BE FEATURED EIGHT TIMES ON ESPN FAMILY OF NETWORKS
- Alabama volleyball is slated to appear eight times on the ESPN family of networks this season.
- Six of the eight appearances will be on the SEC Network with the remaining two on ESPNU. Since the debut of the SEC Network in 2014, Alabama has won 12 of its 14 matches featured on the network.
- The remaining home matches and select road matches will be streamed live online on the SEC Network+ platform. Live video links will be available on the schedule page of rolltide.com.
2016 Alabama Volleyball TV Schedule
- Friday, Sept. 23 vs. Texas A&M - 7 p.m. CT (SEC Network)
- Sunday, Sept. 25 vs. Florida - 12 p.m. CT (SEC Network)
- Sunday, Oct. 2 at Mississippi State - 3 p.m. CT (SEC Network)
- Wednesday, Oct. 12 vs. Mississippi State - 8 p.m. CT (ESPNU)
- Friday, Oct. 28 vs. Tennessee - 6 p.m. CT (SEC Network)
- Thursday, Nov. 3 at Texas A&M - 6 p.m. CT (SEC Network)
- Sunday, Nov. 6 vs. Arkansas - 1 p.m. CT (SEC Network)
- Wednesday, Nov. 9 vs. Auburn - 5 p.m. CT (ESPNU)
ALABAMA WINS AVCA TEAM ACADEMIC AWARD
Alabama was one of 131 Division I volleyball programs to win the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for the 2015-16 season, announced in July. The award honors teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the school year by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade point average on a 4.0 scale. This is the second-straight season in which Alabama has won the award and the Tide is one of four SEC teams on this year's list, along with Missouri, South Carolina and Kentucky.
2015Â RECAPÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
- Senior Sierra Wilson set a new Alabama career assists record, finishing her four-year career with 5,771 assists, passing the previous program record of 5,578 set by Brigitte Slack (2004-07).
- Over 15,000 fans packed Foster Auditorium during the 2015 season, marking the second-highest attendance total in program history. Alabama has seen attendance top the 12,000 mark every season since 2012.
- Redshirt junior Krystal Rivers and sophomore Kat Hutson earned AVCA honorable mention All-America honors after being named All-South Region earlier in the season.
- Sierra Wilson earned her second-consecutive First Team Academic All-America award, becoming the first two-time winner in program history.
- Alabama finished with an 11-7 mark in SEC play, its third straight season with double-digit conference wins. It is the longest such stretch in program history.
NEXT TIME OUT: SAMFORD / PUERTO RICO CLASICO
Alabama will play its first home match of 2016 on Tuesday, Aug. 30 facing Samford at 7 p.m. CT in Foster Auditorium. The following weekend, the Tide heads to Puerto Rico for the Puerto Rico Clasico tournament. Action starts on Thursday, Sept. 1 against Virginia Tech at 4:30 p.m. CT and continues on Friday, Sept. 2 against Florida State (4:30 p.m.) and Saturday, Sept. 3 (2 p.m.) against Temple.
