Volleyball falls 3-2 to Alabama

Sunday, October 8

Knoxville

1:30 PM

University of Tennessee

1-58-7 | SEC

Alabama

2-413-6 | SEC

Alabama

Tennessee

October 08, 2017 | Volleyball

Box Score

Box Score (PDF) | Match Highlights | Photo Gallery

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tessa Grubbs had 19 kills and Madison Coulter adding a career-high 11 kills for Tennessee in a 3-2 (20-25, 25-23, 25-18, 23-25, 9-15) loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide on Sunday afternoon at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Grubbs tied a match-high 19 kills for Tennessee (8-7, 1-5 SEC) while Coulter recorded her first career double-double with 12 digs and 11 kills. Sedona Hansen also recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 30 assists and 15 digs.

Tessa Grubbs had five kills and hit a .364 but it was not enough as Alabama (13-6, 2-4 SEC) took the opening set 25-20.

The Lady Vols took the second set 25-23 and it was it was a back and forth affair that saw eight ties but just one lead change. With the score 5-9, Alyssa Andreno and Kendra Turner teamed up for a blocked that sparked a 6-1 run for UT to give the Lady Vols their first lead of the set. Tennessee would not give up that lead on its way to winning a tight set.

The Big Orange started fast in the third set behind the hot hands of Grubbs who had eight kills and a hitting percentage of .667 in the third set. UT used a 7-0 run to take a 12-6 lead, which started with a service error by Quincey Gary. The run was halted when Callie Williams was called for a back-row attack. The Tide went on to score the next two points and the two teams would go on to trade points but Tennessee proved to be too much for Alabama as UT went on to win the set 25-18.

The fourth set would be a tight one as the two teams would use runs and trade points back and forth. The set was tied 13 times and saw seven lead changes and would be a battle with Alabama winning the final three points to take the set 25-23.

The fifth set was a battle that went back and forth with the Crimson Tide, which used a 3-0 run to take a 6-3 lead early in the set. Olivia Schwamberger led Tennessee with three kills and a .429 hitting percentage but could not get anything going in the Vols' direction. Alabama took the set 15-9.

Alabama was led by Leah Lawrence, who had 19 kills and a hitting percentage of .562 on 32 attacks, and Ginger Perinar, who finished with 18 kills.

MATCH NOTES

Coulter had her first career start of the season and recorded a career-high 12 digs and 11 kills.
Asha Phillips recorded a career-high 11 digs.
Hanson saw her streak of 10 or more assists in a match extend to 15 matches.
Schwamberger recorded a career-high eight kills.