University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
20-8, 6-7SEC
Alabama
12-13, 6-5SEC
Volleyball Loses 3-1 at Alabama
November 06, 2015 | Volleyball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The Tennessee Volunteers lost 3-1 (25-21, 25-22, 25-27, 25-18) to the Alabama Crimson Tide at Foster Auditorium on Friday night.
Tennessee (20-8, 6-7 SEC) fought off two match points in the third set to force a fourth set but could not maintain the momentum against Alabama (12-13, 6-5).
Freshman Erica Treiber led the Vols with 15 kills while hitting .667 and recording seven blocks. Sophomore Kanisha Jimenez helped in all facets of the game for UT, providing 10 kills, 11 digs, three aces and four blocks.
Alabama had a pair reach 20 kills: Krystal Rivers with 26 and Kat Hutson with 24.
"It was a disappointing loss, but I thought the team really handled the adversity in the match and showed resiliency in coming back in the third set to extend the match," Tennessee head coach Rob Patrick said. "Offensively we did a good enough job to win most matches. Lexi had a good day distributing the ball, which shows in our hitting percentage. Kanisha, Kendra (Turner) and Erica played very well at the net by giving us some much-needed kills in a very efficient manner.
"We lost this match on the defensive end of the court, but we'll get that fixed and get ready for Kentucky."
Tennessee wraps up the weekend by hosting No. 21 Kentucky on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Thompson-Boling Arena. It will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
Senior setter Lexi Dempsey recorded 44 assists to give her 1,036 this season. She became the second UT player in the 25-point rally scoring era to have at least 1,000 assists in a year. She helped Tennessee to a .326 hitting percentage on Friday.
The Vols led the first set early thanks to a 5-0 run to go ahead 12-8, but Alabama started turning the momentum midway through the set. An 8-1 run pushed Alabama ahead 19-16 and the Tide led from there. Kelsey Bawcombe came on to serve and delivered an ace to close the score to one point at 22-21, but Alabama won the next three points to take the set 25-21.
In the first set, Tennessee had 11 kills and no hitting errors to hit .440.
Alabama led from the fifth point on in the set. A 5-1 run put Alabama ahead 14-9. Tennessee foiled two set points but not a third. Alabama's Kat Hutson hit a shot into Tennessee's block; the ball rolled across the length of the net before going out of bounds to end the set, 25-22. Alabama had 16 kills in the set, compared to nine for the Vols.
The Vols answered late in a back-and-forth third set.
Tennessee fought off a pair of match points in the third set on kills by Treiber and Dempsey. The Vols made good on their only set point; Kendra Turner tipped it over the block and in to give UT the set, 27-25.
The teams were tied 13-13 midway through the fourth set, but Alabama went on a quick 3-0 burst to go up 16-13 and take the lead for good. Alabama got a block on match point -- only its second block of the match -- to end the set at 25-18.
Freshman Brooke Schumacher, in her second SEC match at libero, had a career-high 15 digs for the Vols. Alabama out-dug Tennessee 61-45.
The Vols defeated Alabama 3-1 at home earlier this season.
