Alabama
9-2
East Tennessee State
7-4
Alabama Volleyball Surges in Second Half for 3-1 Win Over ETSU
9/16/2016 9:33:00 PM | Volleyball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – After dropping the second set to head into intermission tied at 1-1, Alabama volleyball made the necessary adjustments to come out of the locker room and post two strong sets against East Tennessee State for the 3-1 win, posting set scores of 25-21, 21-25, 25-17 and 25-18.
Alabama (9-2) again leaned heavily on senior Krystal Rivers on the offensive end, as she posted 27 kills and a .379 hitting percentage along with four blocks. Leah Lawrence led the defensive effort at the net with five blocks, one solo and four assisted, while three players posted double-digit digs led by Brittany Thomas with a season-high 15. East Tennessee State (7-4) hit just .147 in the match, including a .068 clip in the deciding fourth set.
Alabama got off to a hot start in the opening set, pushing ahead 7-2 with East Tennessee State burning an early timeout. The Bucs weren't down for long however, fighting back to tie the set at 10-10 and forcing the Tide to regroup with a timeout. ETSU continued to charge ahead after the break, moving ahead 15-11 but Alabama would rally to tie the set back up at 17-17. Alabama challenged an ETSU kill and got the call overturned, putting the Tide ahead 19-17 as the Bucs took its second timeout. Momentum stayed in Alabama's favor down the stretch as the Tide won 25-21.
Alabama scored the first point of set two but ETSU held the advantage for the majority of the first half, leading 15-9 at the media timeout. A challenged call and an overturned play in the Tide's favor helped spark a 5-1 run for Alabama, pulling the Tide within two, trailing 16-14 as ETSU took a timeout. Alabama would battle back to tie the set twice late but could not pull ahead, taking a timeout down 23-21. The Bucs would reach set point on a kill and win the frame on an ace, 25-21, to even the match at 1-1.
The Tide trailed in the early points of set three but eventually pulled ahead 9-8 and rattled off three more points to make it 12-8 at the halfway point with the Bucs taking its first timeout. A 5-2 run out of the break extended the lead to 17-10 with ETSU forced to quickly regroup with another timeout. Each team would score seven points to make it 24-17 and a block by Lawrence and Thomas allowed Alabama to win the set, 25-17, and take a 2-1 match lead.
Tied at 2-2 in set four, Alabama used a 6-2 run to build a four-point lead, up 8-4 at ETSU's first timeout. The Tide continued to build on its lead, eventually moving ahead 15-9 as the Bucs burned its second timeout to try and halt the Alabama momentum. With the Tide up 20-11, the Bucs rattled off four-straight points to draw within five but, after an Alabama timeout, the Tide quickly reached set point 24-17, and eventually sealed the match victory with a kill by Rivers to make it 25-18.
Alabama concludes its weekend at the Crimson-White Tournament with a pair of matches on Saturday, Sept. 17, taking on Presbyterian (2-10) at 11 a.m. CT and Georgia Southern (7-6) at 7 p.m. CT.
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