Alabama
12-14,4-11SEC
Tennessee
13-12,7-8SEC
Alabama Volleyball Falls to Tennessee Friday Night in Final Road Contest
11/22/2019 7:12:00 PM | Volleyball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Alabama volleyball dropped its final road contest of the regular season Friday night, falling to Tennessee in three sets.
Alabama (12-14, 4-11 SEC) battled in a narrow two-point loss to Tennessee (13-12, 7-8 SEC) in the opening set, 26-24, before the Lady Vols won back-to-back frames, 25-16 and 25-18, to cap the sweep. Senior Hayley McSparin tallied a team-leading nine kills hitting .562 with no errors on 16 swings. Freshman Emily Janek and junior Meghan Neelon combined to tally 30 of the team's 32 assists and junior Kaylee Thomas dug a team-leading 11 balls.
STAT LEADERS
- Kills – Hayley McSparin (9)
- Assists – Meghan Neelon (16)
- Blocks - Hayley McSparin (6)
- Digs – Kaylee Thomas (11)
SET-BY-SET
- Set One (Tennessee 26, Alabama 24): Tennessee scored three unanswered to open the set and held the three-point lead until, at 10-7, back-to-back kills from freshman Alyiah Wells and a UT attack error knotted the score at 10-10. Later trailing 14-13, a kill from McSparin and an ace from junior Doris Carter gave the Tide its first lead of the set, 15-14, at the media timeout. After five more tie scores, Tennessee moved ahead 21-19 before Alabama spent its first team timeout. A kill from Carter and another from Janek off an overpass tied it at 21-21 and the Tide took the lead three points later at 23-22 on a block from McSparin and Janek. After a Lady Vol timeout, Alabama would go on to reach set point at 24-23 but Tennessee would score twice in a row for its own set point, 25-24, and the Tide spent its last timeout. A Lady Vol block on the next rally would give the home team the two-point victory in the opening set.
- Set Two (Tennessee 25, Alabama 16): Tennessee jumped ahead to a 6-2 lead, forcing an early timeout from Alabama. Still trailing by four later at 9-5, the Tide scored three straight to make it a one-point game. Two points later with the Lady Vols up 10-9, the home team scored five unanswered to extend its lead to six points, 15-9. Alabama took its second timeout trailing 17-10 and Tennessee continued to extend its lead, eventually winning 25-16 to take a 2-0 match lead.
- Set Three (Tennessee 25, Alabama 18): After consecutive points from Alabama to start the set, Tennessee responded with five unanswered to take a 5-2 lead, but the final point was challenged by the Tide and reversed to change the score to 4-3. Alabama took its first lead of the set at 6-5 and pulled ahead 10-7 before Tennessee called a timeout. The Lady Vols fought back quickly, scoring four in a row to move back ahead 11-10 but the Tide answered with four of its own to make it a three-point lead again at 14-11. Tied for a ninth time at 16-16, a 5-1 run pushed Tennessee ahead 21-17 and Alabama spent both of its timeouts in the process. The Lady Vols held on to win the set, 25-18, and complete the sweep.
KEYS TO THE MATCH
- Alabama had just two blocks across the first two sets but the net defense responded with four in the third frame
- After a back-and-forth battle with 12 tie scores in the opening frame, there was only one in the second set but the third was a closer affair with nine tie scores
UP NEXT
Alabama returns to Foster Auditorium, hosting LSU (14-11, 8-7 SEC) on Sunday, Nov. 24 at 1 p.m. CT.
For the latest information on the team, follow @AlabamaVball on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Volleyball on Facebook. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.
