University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
7-11, 0-4SEC
Alabama
15-3, 3-1SEC
Resilient Lady Vols Fall to Tide in Four
October 05, 2014 | Volleyball
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee's comeback effort fell just short Sunday afternoon as the Lady Vols dropped a 3-1 (15-25, 20-25, 25-20, 27-29) decision to SEC foe Alabama in front of a season-high 1,780 fans at Thompson-Boling Arena. Sophomore Jamie Lea had 11 kills in the match to lead UT while Lexi Dempsey posted 25 assists and Bridgette Villano scooped up 16 digs.
Tennessee (7-11, 0-4 SEC) fell into a 2-0 hole to the Crimson Tide (15-3, 3-1 SEC), which entered the week in first place in the SEC standings, headed into match break. The locker room adjustments paid dividends for the Lady Vols as they opened up a 7-3 lead to start the third frame. A 5-1 run powered the fast start and Shealyn Kolosky bookended the rally with two of her team-high five kills in the frame. A kill from Kendra Turner and an Alabama error pushed the lead to 9-4 early in the game.
The Crimson Tide fought back to within two at 13-11, but another UT run gave the Lady Vols the separation they would need to claim the set. Back-to-back service aces from Kelsey Bawcombe, who went on to finish the match with a career-high five, kick-started the rally and Kanisha Jimenez and Kolosky added kills to bring UT's lead to 19-12.
The advantage would grow to as many as eight after another kill from Turner and a UA error made it 21-13. Alabama fought its way back to within five late in the set, but Lea put the finishing touches on the frame with a decisive kill.
Having recovered one game, Tennessee nearly leveled things in a tight fourth set. After falling behind 5-0, the Lady Vols slowly chipped away at the deficit until finally bringing things all square at 19-19 in the late stages when Turner capped a 7-2 run with the fifth of her six kills in the match. Another Turner kill coupled with back-to-back errors from the Tide brought Tennessee to the brink of completing the comeback as it reached set point at 24-22. But back-to-back Lady Vol errors allowed the vistors back into the frame and UA would stave off set point twice more before using a 3-0 run to end the match with a 29-27 score line in the fourth set.
Alabama had three players finish in double digit kills for the match, led by 16 from Kat Hutson. Two-time reigning SEC Player of the Week Krystal Rivers finished with 12 kills and a .281 hitting percentage.
After posting a season-low two team blocks in Friday night's meeting with No. 21 Texas A&M, UT responded with a solid defensive effort at the net on Sunday. As a team, Tennessee posted 10 total blocks -- the most since a 3-2 win over Mercer on Sept. 20. Leading the effort was Jimenez, who finished just one block of her career-high with six. Kolosky added four while Raina Hembry registered a solo block in her match total of three.
Alongside Dempsey's 25, Taylor Johnson finished with nine assists and Kelsey Bawcombe had eight digs.
SEC play continues for Tennessee next weekend with two more home matches. No. 13 Kentucky visits Thompson-Boling Arena on Friday night at 7 p.m. ET while LSU will be on hand for another Sunday matinee beginning at 1:30 p.m. Friday night's meeting with UK is the annual Dig Pink match for the Lady Vols.
