Alabama Volleyball Faces Tennessee on the Road Friday, Returns Home to Host LSU Sunday

Friday, November 22

Knoxville, Tenn.

5:30 p.m. CT

Alabama

Tennessee

Photo by: Crimson Tide Photos / UA Athleti

Alabama Volleyball Faces Tennessee on the Road Friday, Returns Home to Host LSU Sunday

11/21/2019 8:59:00 AM | Volleyball

Match Notes Live Stats vs. Tennessee Live Video vs. Tennessee Live Stats vs. LSU Live Video vs. LSU

Sunday’s match is the first of three straight at Foster Auditorium to close out the regular season

THIS WEEKEND

ALABAMA (12-13, 4-10 SEC) AT TENNESSEE (12-12, 6-8 SEC)

Friday, Nov. 22 – 5:30 p.m. CT
Knoxville, Tenn. – Thompson-Boling Arena

ALABAMA (12-13, 4-10 SEC) VS. LSU (14-11, 8-7 SEC)

Sunday, Nov. 24 – 1 p.m. CT
Tuscaloosa, Ala. – Foster Auditorium

SCOUTING ALABAMA

Alabama is 12-13 overall and 4-10 in Southeastern Conference play with four matches remaining in its regular season slate
Friday's contest at Tennessee will be the final road match for the Crimson Tide before closing the regular season with three at Foster Auditorium
Junior Kaylee Thomas is ranked fifth in the league in digs (381, 4.14/set) and recently became the 14th player in UA history to surpass 1,000 career digs
Freshman Alyiah Wells is fourth in the league in blocks (100, 1.12/set) and is the only freshman ranked in the top 10
Junior Doris Carter leads the team with five double-doubles and has finished with 10 or more kills in six of the last seven matches
The Crimson Tide returns 11 players from last season's team, including starters Doris Carter, Meghan Neelon, Kaylee Thomas, Ginger Perinar and Hayley McSparin
Along with first-year head coach Lindsey Devine, eight newcomers join the roster including six freshmen and two graduate transfers

ALL-TIME VS. TENNESSEE

Overall: 55th Meeting (Tennessee leads 36-18)
In Tuscaloosa: 10-15 | In Knoxville: 6-18 | At Neutral Sites: 2-3
Current Streak: Tennessee +2
Last Meeting: Nov. 10, 2019 - Tuscaloosa, Ala. - L, 0-3
Last Meeting in Knoxville: Oct. 3, 2018 - Knoxville, Tenn. - L, 1-3

ALL-TIME VS. LSU

Overall: 67th Meeting (LSU leads 37-29)
In Tuscaloosa: 19-13 | In Baton Rouge: 6-21 | At Neutral Sites: 4-2
Current Streak: LSU +2
Last Meeting: Oct. 18, 2019 - Baton Rouge, La. - L, 1-3

LAST TIME OUT: ALABAMA DROPS ROAD CONTESTS AT MISSOURI AND ARKANSAS

Alabama dropped a pair of road contests last weekend, falling to Missouri on Friday and Arkansas on Sunday
Missouri won the match in straight sets by scores of 25-16, 25-18 and 25-19
Junior Kaylee Thomas led the Alabama defense with 11 digs, pushing her past 1,000 for her career to become the 14th player in program history to reach the milestone
Graduate transfer Eva Borrowdale led the Crimson Tide offense with nine kills, while junior Doris Carter was close behind at eight
On Sunday, Alabama and Arkansas went down to the wire at Barnhill Arena, battling to five sets with the Razorbacks ultimately edging the Crimson Tide, 3-2
The Tide rallied from a 25-22 loss in the first set to defeat the Razorbacks, 25-18, in the second set
The Razorbacks won by an identical 25-18 score in the third but the Crimson Tide pulled out the 25-22 win in the fourth to send the teams to a fifth set
Alabama led at the mid-set switch and had match point at 15-14, but three straight from Arkansas gave the home team the narrow 17-15 victory to cap the match
Alabama saw plenty of points generated from the service line, posting a season-high nine service aces led by career highs from senior Ginger Perinar and redshirt junior Ashley Homan with five and four, respectively
Carter led the offense with 13 kills, adding 10 digs for her fifth double-double of the season

ALABAMA IN THE SEC RANKINGS (TOP EIGHT)

Team (Overall)

6th - Blocks (220, 2.37/set)
7th - Aces (114, 1.23/set)

Team (SEC Matches)

4th - Blocks (130, 2.41/set)
6th - Aces (64, 1.19/set)

Individual (Overall)

3rd - Blocks - Alyiah Wells (100, 1.12/set)
5th - Digs - Kaylee Thomas (381, 4.14/set)
6th - Aces - Ginger Perinar (22, 0.32/set)
8th – Hitting Percentage – Alyiah Wells (.335)

Individual (SEC Matches)

4th - Aces - Ginger Perinar (15, 0.42/set)
6th - Blocks - Alyiah Wells (56, 1.04/set)
7th - Digs - Kaylee Thomas (226, 4.19/set)

KAYLEE THOMAS SURPASSES 1,000 CAREER DIGS

During the Nov. 15 match at Missouri, junior Kaylee Thomas earned her 1,000th career dig
She is the 14th player in program history to reach the milestone and the third in the last three seasons, joining former teammates Quincey Gary (2015-18) and Natalie Murison (2014-17)
With 1,020 digs, Thomas is ranked 12th all-time at UA and is 32 behind 11th-place Kristye Hall (1989-92)
Thomas' 3.10 digs-per-set average ranks eighth all-time at UA

HAYLEY MCSPARIN CLOSES IN ON 1,000 CAREER KILLS

Senior Hayley McSparin surpassed the 900-career-kills mark in the Oct. 18 match against LSU and currently sits at 954
She is the 18th player in program history to break the 900-kill mark and the first since Kat Hutson (2014-16), who sits 21 kills ahead of McSparin in UA's career rankings
McSparin is also among the top 10 at Alabama in career attack percentage (8th - .298), total blocks (9th - 344), solo blocks (7th - 68) and block assists (9th - 276)
She is just the fifth player in program history to rank in the top 10 in each of those categories

UP NEXT

Alabama wraps up the regular season with a pair of home matches, hosting Georgia (19-7, 11-4 SEC) on Wednesday, Nov. 27 at 5 p.m. CT and Auburn (6-20, 0-15 SEC) on Saturday, Nov. 30 at 12 p.m. CT.