Alabama
Tennessee State
Alabama Volleyball Makes Home Debut this Weekend at Hampton Inn Bama Bash
9/7/2017 2:22:00 PM | Volleyball
THIS WEEK: HAMPTON INN BAMA BASH
- vs. Tennessee State (4-3) – Friday, Sept. 8 – 10 a.m. CT
- vs. Hofstra (3-4) – Friday, Sept. 8 – 7:30 p.m. CT
- vs. Furman (3-3) – Saturday, Sept. 9 – Noon CT
SCOUTING ALABAMA (4-2)
- Alabama is 4-2 this season after going 2-1 at last weekend's Jaguar Invitational in Mobile, Ala. There, the Crimson Tide defeated South Alabama and McNeese State but fell to Southern Miss.
- Junior libero Quincey Gary was named to the Jaguar Invitational All-Tournament team and earned SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors. It is Alabama's first Defensive Player of the Week award since 2008.
- Alabama makes its home debut at this weekend's Bama Bash. After going 7-7 at home in his first season as head coach in 2011, Ed Allen has posted a winning record in Foster Auditorium every season since. The 12 home wins in 2014 and 2016 are the highest marks achieved under Allen.
LAST TIME OUT: JAGUAR INVITATIONAL
- Alabama 3, South Alabama 1: Alabama volleyball opened action at the Jaguar Invitational Friday night against tournament host South Alabama, defeating the Jaguars 3-1 by set scores of 25-12, 29-27, 20-25 and 25-21. Alabama was strong up front, out-blocking South Alabama (0-3) 13-4 and the Jaguars were held to a .141 hitting percentage. The Tide won the first two sets but South Alabama rallied to win the third, avoiding the sweep. The fourth set was another close contest but a late push gave the Tide a 25-21 set win to end the match at 3-1. Freshman Christine Jarman led all players with a season-best 17 kills, adding 14 digs for her first career double-double. Sophomore Mahalia Swink was also in double figures with a career-high 13 kills and senior Leah Lawrence was close behind with 11. On defense, junior Quincey Gary covered plenty of ground with a career-best 31 digs, which is tied for the sixth-most in program history and the most for a Tide player in a match since Sept. 3, 2011.
- Southern Miss 3, Alabama 0: After a gutsy performance in Friday's match, the Tide struggled in Saturday morning's opener against the Golden Eagles, falling in straight sets by scores of 23-25, 13-25 and 15-25. Alabama was limited to a .063 hitting percentage while Southern Miss finished at a .337 clip. The Golden Eagles out-blocked the Tide 8-4 up front. Jennifer Casillas led the team with eight kills.
- Alabama 3, McNeese State 2: Alabama closed its weekend at the Jaguar Invitational with a hard-fought five set victory over McNeese State, defeating the Cowgirls 3-2 by set scores of 22-25, 25-14, 28-26, 14-25 and 15-9. Alabama had four players in double-digit kills, led by Jarman and McSparin with 13 each. Jarman added 16 digs for her second double-double of the weekend and Meghan Neelon also earned a double-double with 54 assists and 18 digs. Following a 31-dig performance Friday, Gary added 30 more in Saturday's win.
QUINCEY GARY NAMED SEC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Alabama volleyball's Quincey Gary is this week's SEC Defensive Player of the Week, it was announced Tuesday by the Southeastern Conference.
The weekly honor is the first of Gary's career and Alabama's first defensive award since 2008. The junior from Alexandria, Ind., had 70 digs over three matches last weekend, averaging 5.83 per set. She opened play at the Jaguar Invitational Friday night with 31 digs in the four-set win over tournament host South Alabama. The total is a career high for Gary and the largest total in a four-set match in program history. It is also the most in a match for any Tide player since Kelsey Anderson had 33 against SMU on Sept. 3, 2011.
Gary finished the weekend with another strong performance on Saturday, posting 30 digs in the five-set win over McNeese State. She now joins Amy Pauly (2005-08) as the only players in program history to have at least two matches with 30 or more digs in the same season.
CAREER RECORD WATCH
- Senior Leah Lawrence is already among the top 10 at Alabama in career blocks (8th - 346), block assists (6th - 289) and solo blocks (8th - 57). She is 92 blocks away from the school record of 438 held by Shelly Adamcik (1999-02). Lawrence has surpassed 92 blocks in two of her three previous seasons at Alabama, including a personal-best 122 last year.
- Senior Natalie Murison has been a mainstay on the Tide defense over her career in crimson and white, earning 1,322 career digs to place third on the all-time career list at Alabama. She is only 38 shy of tying Lorian Newcomer (1993-95) in second with 1,360 and is 364 away from Amy Pauly's (2005-08) 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 3.25 digs per set, which is seventh all-time at Alabama, and her 407 sets played puts her 42 sets away from cracking the top 10.
FINDING A HOME AT FOSTER
Since moving back into a renovated Foster Auditorium in 2011, Ed Allen's first year as the Tide's head coach, Alabama has compiled a 63-27 (.700) on its home court. Attendance has surged since its move back to Foster Auditorium as well, welcoming over 12,000 fans in five of Allen's six seasons after only surpassing 10,000 once prior to 2011.
UP NEXT
Alabama plays four matches next week, beginning with a midweek road trip to Samford on Tuesday, Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. CT. The following weekend, Alabama returns to Foster Auditorium for the Crimson-White Tournament on Sept. 15-16. There, the Tide will face Southern, Murray State and Troy.
