Alabama
Alabama State
Alabama Returns Home to Host Alabama State Wednesday
10/9/2018 11:36:00 AM | Volleyball
THIS WEEK: ALABAMA (14-5) VS. ALABAMA STATE (10-15)
- Wednesday, Oct. 10 – 7 p.m. CT
- Tuscaloosa, Ala. – Foster Auditorium
SCOUTING ALABAMA
- Alabama is 14-5 overall and 2-4 in conference play after sweeping Auburn on the road Sunday
- Among SEC teams, Alabama's defense leads the league in digs (1,042, 15.55/set) and is third in blocks (167, 2.49/set). Individually, senior Quincey Gary is second in the league with 298 digs (4.45/set) while senior Cidavia Hall and junior Hayley McSparin are ranked fifth and seventh, respectively, in blocks at 73 (1.09/set) and 70 (1.04/set)
- Hall and Gary's numbers this season put them among the single-season leaders in program history, with Gary's 4.52 digs-per-set at fourth and Hall's .360 hitting percentage ranked seventh
- Wednesday's match against Alabama State is Alabama's fifth against an in-state opponent this season, winning each of the previous four
- Head Coach Ed Allen is in his eighth season at the helm of the program in 2018, owning a 147-97 (.602) record at UA and a 641-280 (.696) overall mark as a head coach
ALL-TIME VS. ALABAMA STATE
- Overall: 17th Meeting (Alabama leads 16-0)
- In Tuscaloosa: 12-0 | In Montgomery: 4-0 | At Neutral Sites: 0-0
- Current Streak: Alabama +16
- Last Meeting: Oct. 12, 2017 - Montgomery, Ala. - W, 3-1
- Last Meeting in Tuscaloosa: Sept. 29, 2015 - W, 3-0
- Series Notes: Alabama is undefeated all-time against Alabama State, winning all 16 of the previous meetings. Last season, the Tide took a 3-1 decision against the Hornets in Montgomery. The 25-21 win in the first set for Alabama State last season was just the second set the Hornets had ever won against the Tide, last doing so in 1989.
LAST TIME OUT: ALABAMA SWEEPS AUBURN ON THE ROAD SUNDAY
Alabama volleyball needed just three sets to defeat in-state rival Sunday afternoon, defeating Auburn on the road for the first time since 2014 with set scores of 25-18, 25-20 and 25-19. The win is Alabama's first road victory over Auburn since 2014 and its first sweep over the Tigers since 2015. The win was the second over Auburn this season, previously winning 3-1 in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 23. Sophomore Doris Carter led the Crimson Tide offense with 15 kills, the only player for either team in double figures, and hit .379 from the outside. Senior Cidavia Hall and junior Hayley McSparin combined to stuff seven blocks up the middle while committing just two errors on 18 swings with a combined 12 kills. Sophomore Meghan Neelon paced the offense with 21 assists, adding a team-leading three service aces. Senior Quincey Gary posted 15 digs, increasing her career total to 1,249 and putting her 15 away from fourth place on Alabama's career digs list.
ED ALLEN VS. IN-STATE OPPONENTS
- Wednesday's match against Alabama State will be the fifth in-state opponent Alabama has faced this season. The Crimson Tide has previously faced Samford (Sept. 11), South Alabama (Sept. 14) and Auburn twice (Sept. 23, Oct. 7), winning all four contests
- Under head coach Ed Allen, the Crimson Tide is 29-6 (.829) against schools from the state of Alabama
- Alabama's lone home loss to an in-state program came in Allen's first year (2011) against Auburn. Since then, the Tide is 17-0 at Foster Auditorium
- Of those 35 matches against in-state opponents, 13 have come against Auburn. The next most-frequent in-state opponents are Alabama State and Samford, which the Tide has played six times each under Allen
BALANCED ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL
- Through 19 matches, Alabama's .226 team hitting percentage ranks 13th on UA's single-season records
- It is the sixth time under head coach Ed Allen that a Tide offense ranks in the top-15, including four of the top-10
- Senior Cidavia Hall's current mark of .360 ranks fourth in program history. The last Tide hitter to finish the season above .360 was Bruna Evangelista in 2014 at .378
- Defensively, the team currently ranks fifth in digs-per-set (15.55) and seventh in blocks-per-set (2.49). The blocks average is the highest under Ed Allen and the highest for any Tide team since 2006
- Senior Quincey Gary is averaging 4.45 digs-per-set this season, which is third in UA history. This just beats her previous best mark of 4.43 from last year, which ranks fourth.
GARY CONTINUES TO CLIMB CAREER DIGS LIST AT UA
- Senior libero Quincey Gary heads into Wednesday's match against Alabama State ranked fifth on Alabama's career digs list with 1,249 career digs
- Gary is now 15 shy of fourth-place Michelle Green's (1997-00) career total of 1,264 digs.
- Gary is one of four Tide athletes in the top 10 coached by Ed Allen, including Natalie Murison (2nd - 1,501), Brittany Thomas (6th - 1,195) and Kryssi Daniels (8th - 1,145).
- The Alexandria, Ind., native also ranks eighth in career digs-per-set at 3.05. The last Tide player to play four seasons at UA and finish above 3.00 in digs-per-set for their career was Amy Pauly (2005-08) at 3.91
ALABAMA IN THE SEC RANKINGS (TOP 10)
Team
- Digs - 1st - 1,042 (15.55/set)
- Blocks - 3rd - 167 (2.49/set)
- Opponent Hitting Percentage - 4th - .179
- Assists - 7th - 816 (12.18/set)
- Aces - 7th - 88 (1.31/set)
- Kills - 7th - 868 (12.96/set)
- Hitting Percentage - 9th - .226
Individual
- Quincey Gary
- Digs - 2nd - 298 (4.45/set)
- Cidavia Hall
- Hitting Percentage - 4th - .360
- Blocks - 5th - 73 (1.09/set)
- Hayley McSparin
- Blocks - 7th - 70 (1.04/set)
- Meghan Neelon
- Aces - 7th - 23 (0.34/set)
- Ginger Perinar
- Kills - 10th - 219 (3.27/set)
- Mahalia Swink
- Aces - 8th - 20 (0.31/set)
UP NEXT
Alabama resumes conference play this weekend, traveling to Gainesville, Fla., to take on No. 11 Florida Sunday, Oct. 14 at 12:30 p.m. CT.
