Lady Vols top Alabama in Four Sets

Wednesday, October 3

Knoxville

8 pm

University of Tennessee

13-4 (4-1SEC)

Alabama

13-5 (1-4SEC)

Alabama

Tennessee

October 03, 2018 | Volleyball

Box Score Postgame Interview

Tennessee grabs fourth win in conference play behind double-digit kills from Treiber, Felts and Perinar

By: Seth Raborn

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee volleyball team captured its third-straight win with a 3-1 victory over the University of Alabama Wednesday.

With the win, the Lady Vols (13-4, 4-1 SEC) notched their ninth victory inside of Thompson-Boling Arena this season. Senior Erica Treiber and freshman Lily Felts led Tennessee with 16 kills apiece, as freshman Raquel Perinar (14) was the other Lady Vol with double-digit kills.

Junior Sedona Hansen set a season-high in assists with 41 against the Crimson Tide (13-5, 1-4 SEC). Defensively, Tennessee held Alabama to a .133 hitting percentage and only one Crimson Tide player finished with over a .150 hitting percentage.

The Lady Vols took the first two sets of the match 25-21 and 25-14 after Alabama registered a .103 hitting percentage in the first set and a .000 in the second. The Crimson Tide came back to take the third set by a score of 25-21 but, Tennessee closed out the match in the fourth behind six kills from Felts.

Treiber rounded out the match with six total blocks, her second-highest total of the season, which gives her the fifth-most blocks in program history.

The Lady Vols improved to 36-18 all-time against Alabama, snapping a two-game losing streak to the Crimson Tide.

From Coach Rackham:
On playing patient against Alabama:
"They are a good defensive team and they scrape a lot which causes you to keep taking swings and be patient in your offense. I feel like they scouted us really well and they had a good gameplan. It made it tough for us to score and our hitters had to be patient." -- Coach Eve Rackham

On the team's development over the season:
"We're learning to score points from a lot of different places and we're learning to become a better team. I love the fact we are getting better defensively match-by-match. I feel like in every facet of the game we are getting a little bit better. The players are buying in and developing." -- Coach Eve Rackham

Standout Stat:

Tennessee held the Crimson Tide to a .133 hitting percentage, which marks the Lady Vols 10th opponent this season that has been held under the .200 mark. Tennessee has held three of their last five SEC opponents under the .200 to start conference play.

Match Notables:

Erica Treiber now has 442 blocks in her career, which is puts her in the top five in Tennessee volleyball history. Treiber passed two-time All-American Kristen Andre, who recorded 436 blocks from 2002-05.
With 41 assists in the match, it marks the first time since Nov. 20, 2016 that Sedona Hansen had 40+ assists in a match. It is the 16th time overall she has surpassed 40+ assists in a match.
Felts recorded her second career double-double with 16 kills and 12 digs. Felts has recorded each of her double-doubles in the last two matches.

Next Up:
Tennessee's final match of the homestand will come on Sunday, Oct. 7 against Mississippi State. The Lady Vols are looking to win their 10th home match of the season and start SEC play 5-1 entering a three-game road stretch.

First serve is slated for 1:30 p.m. (ET) in Thompson-Boling Arena and can be seen on WatchESPN.