Alabama Volleyball Continues SEC Play With Road Matches at Kentucky and Tennessee

THIS WEEKEND

Alabama (12-5, 1-3 SEC) at No. 10 Kentucky (12-2, 3-0 SEC)

Friday, Oct. 6 - 6 p.m. CT
Lexington, Ky. - Memorial Coliseum

Alabama (12-5, 1-3 SEC) at Tennessee (8-6, 1-4 SEC)

Sunday, Oct. 8 - 12:30 p.m. CT
Knoxville, Tenn. - Thompson-Boling Arena

SCOUTING ALABAMA

Alabama is 12-5 overall this season and 1-3 in Southeastern Conference play. Last time out, the Tide fell for the first time at home this season, dropping a 3-0 decision to Missouri Sunday in Tuscaloosa.
As a team, Alabama is ranked fourth in the SEC in digs (953, 15.37), opponent hitting percentage (.173), blocks (163, 2.63/set) and fifth in service aces (86, 1.39/set). Individually, junior Quincey Gary is third in the league in digs (289, 4.76/set), freshman Meghan Neelon is fifth in assists (620, 10.00/set) and senior Leah Lawrence is sixth in service aces (23, 0.37/set) and seventh in blocks (74, 1.19/set).
Five Crimson Tide players had 10 or more kills in last Wednesday's win over Arkansas. The last time Alabama had five players with double-digit kills was on Sept. 5, 2015 in a five-set loss to the College of Charleston. The last time it happened in conference play was on Oct. 23, 2005 in a five-set win over Ole Miss at home.
Senior Leah Lawrence's 12 blocks vs. Arkansas was a career best and was also one block shy of the school record of 13 set by Shelly Adamcik on Oct. 22, 1999 against Georgia. In SEC play, Lawrence is second in the league with 25 blocks (1.67/set) and has performed well from the service line as well, leading the conference with nine aces.
Sophomore Ginger Perinar has stepped up in conference action, posting 12 or more kills in three of the team's four SEC matches after only doing so once in the pre-conference portion of the season. She currently leads the team with 45 kills (3.00/set) in conference play, the third-highest total of any SEC player in league competition.

LAST WEEK: ALABAMA DEFEATS ARKANSAS IN FIVE, FALLS TO MISSOURI

Alabama 3, Arkansas 2: Alabama volleyball put together a complete team effort in a hard-fought five-set win over Arkansas Wednesday night at Foster Auditorium. The Tide won the opening set of the night before the Razorbacks evened the match with an eight-point victory in set two. Alabama reached set point first in the third set but Arkansas ultimately won the back-and-forth battle past the 25-point mark to claim set three, 32-20, and take a 2-1 match lead. The Tide rallied to win set four, 25-22, before clinching the match with a decisive 15-5 victory in the fifth set. Five Alabama players had double-digit kills and the Tide stuffed a season-high 18 blocks as a team, more than double the seven blocks from the Razorbacks. Senior Leah Lawrence had a career-best 12 blocks, one shy of the Alabama single-match record, and added a team-leading 13 kills for her first double-double. Sophomore Mahalia Swink tied Lawrence for the team lead with 13 kills, a career best for the Bakersfield, Calif. native and freshman Meghan Neelon was one assist shy of tying her own career high, finishing the match with 53.
Missouri 3, Alabama 0: Alabama volleyball dropped its first home match of the 2017 season Sunday afternoon, falling in three sets to Missouri. The Tide dropped the opening two sets to the Tigers before looking to avoid the sweep with a late lead in the third. Missouri came back in the closing points however, tying the score after Alabama had reached set point and eventually completing the three-set win with a 27-25 victory in the third set. Senior Leah Lawrence finished the match with four blocks, which improves her career total to 400 blocks. She is just the fifth player in program history to reach the mark.

LEAH LAWRENCE JOINS 400 BLOCKS CLUB

Senior Leah Lawrence posted four blocks in Sunday's match against Missouri, pushing her career total to 400. She is the fifth player in program history to reach the mark and the first under head coach Ed Allen.

Alabama Career Block Leaders (400+)

Shelly Adamcik (1999-2002): 438
Mavis Reed (1991-94): 425
Crystal Hudson (2003-07): 408
Julie Farley (2001-04): 400
Leah Lawrence (2014-pres.): 400

CAREER RECORD WATCH

Senior Leah Lawrence is among the top 10 at Alabama in career blocks (T4th - 400), block assists (4th - 328) and solo blocks (5th - 72). She is 38 blocks away from the school record of 438 held by Shelly Adamcik (1999-02). Last weekend against Missouri, Lawrence became the fifth player in program history with 400 career blocks and the first since Crystal Hudson (2003-07).
Senior Natalie Murison is second in career digs at Alabama with 1,394. She is now 330 away from Amy Pauly's (2005-08) school-record total of 1,724. Murison has surpassed 400 digs in each of her three previous years, including a personal-best 469 as a sophomore in 2015. She has a career average of 3.14 digs per set, which is seventh all-time at Alabama, and her 444 sets played puts her five sets away from cracking the Tide's top 10.

UP NEXT

Alabama briefly steps out of conference play for a midweek road match at Alabama State on Thursday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. CT before resuming SEC play in Baton Rouge, La. against LSU on Sunday, Oct. 15 at 1 p.m. CT.

Alabama Volleyball Continues SEC Play With Road Matches at Kentucky and Tennessee

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Quincey Gary

Leah Lawrence

Natalie Murison

Meghan Neelon

Ginger Perinar

Mahalia Swink

University of Alabama Athletics

Alabama Volleyball Continues SEC Play With Road Matches at Kentucky and Tennessee

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Quincey Gary

Leah Lawrence

Natalie Murison

Meghan Neelon

Ginger Perinar

Mahalia Swink

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