TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After losing the first set, Alabama Volleyball rallied to win the next three and earn the four-set win over Tennessee Wednesday night at the Foster Auditorium.
Alabama (10-19, 4-13 SEC) lost to Tennessee (16-13, 10-7 SEC) 21-25 in the opening frame before going on to back-to-back 25-21, 29-27 and 25-23 victories to meet the four – sentence decision. The 58 kills are the Crimson Tide’s second-highest total in SEC play this season, and the 13 aces serve are the highest in league play and the third-highest overall. Alabama had three players with double-digit kills, led by a season-high 18 Abby Marjama who also tied her season high with six service aces. The latter improves her season total to 72, becoming the first Alabama player since 1990 to have over 70 aces in a season.
Tennessee took a 10-3 lead in the opening set, forcing an early timeout for Alabama. The Tide fought back to close the gap within two as the Lady Vols burned their two timeouts as their lead shrank to 19-17. Alabama struggled all the way to take a 20-19 lead but soon fell back down to 23-21 and took its final timeout of the set. The Lady Vols eventually won 25-22. After Alabama led 6-3 early in the second game, Tennessee went 6-0 and led 9-3 before the tide called for a timeout. The teams traded back and forth in the middle of the set, with five ties going up to 19-19. The Tide quickly rattled off three unanswered and led by the same margin at the set point before a Marjama kill gave Alabama the 25-21 win to even the match.
Tennessee extended some of their lead with a 6-1 run that resulted in the media timeout to lead 15-8. Alabama continued to stretch the deficit, and when the Lady Vols hit the set point at 24-20, the Tide went on three unanswered goals to make it a one-point game. After a time out in Tennessee, a Marjama kill took it to 24-24 and after four more set points, the Tide finally prevailed to claim the 29-17 comeback win. Alabama came back from an early deficit again in the fourth, trailing 10-5 before leveling at 11-11 on a Sydney Gholson Service Ass. The Tide put up a three-point lead at Lady Vols’ second time-out, but the visitors quickly fought back to level it 18-18. Alabama hit set point first at 24:21, but Tennessee stayed alive with back-to-back points, including a knocked-down call on a challenge for the point that would have won the match. However, a miss of serve by Lady Vol in the next rally ended her as Tide won 25-23 to win the match in four sets.
Remarks
- Abby Marjama led the team with a season-high 18 kills and six aces
- She improves her season total to 72 aces, becoming the first Tide player since 1990 to surpass 70 aces in a season
- Her 72 aces ranks sixth in UA single-season history, trailing Jennifer Miller’s 77 for fifth from her 1990 season
- Marjama now has 135 career aces in Alabama, one behind Krystal Rivers (2012-16) in eighth place.
- Emily Janek notched her 12th double-double of the season with 36 assists and 16 digs as the team leader
- Alija Wells and Sam Jacobs had 14 kills, a season high for Jacobs
Statistics Guide
sentence by sentence
- Set 1: Tennessee 25, Alabama 22
- Set 2: Alabama 25, Tennessee 21
- Set 3: Alabama 29, Tennessee 27
- Set 4: Alabama 25, Tennessee 23
Next: vs. Tennessee (Tuscaloosa, Alabama)
- Friday, Nov. 25 – 5pm CT