| Friday volleyball RESULTS |
Alabama 3, South Carolina 0
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Florida 3, Ole Miss 0
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Arkansas 3, Auburn 1
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LSU 3, Georgia 1
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Mississippi State 3, Kentucky 0
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Alabama Takes Down South Carolina in Three Sets
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Sophomore Andrea McQuaid paced the Alabama volleyball team with a career-high 16 kills, as the Crimson Tide rolled to a 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-23) Southeastern Conference victory over South Carolina on Friday night from Foster Auditorium.
On the “Power of Pink” night, presented by Tuscaloosa Toyota, Alabama (10-10, 3-6 SEC) posted a .287 hitting percentage, with 49 kills, in 122 attempts, with 14 errors. The Tide also added seven aces and three blocks against the Gamecocks (9-9, 0-8 SEC).
McQuaid finished the night with her 12th double-double of the season, as the setter/outside hitter added a team-high 23 assists. McQuaid did not commit an error on 34 attempts and finished night with a match-high .471 hitting percentage.
Cortney Warren showed up big as well, posting 14 kills, with just two errors on 31 attempts for a .387 hitting mark. For the second straight match Shelbi Goode led the Tide in digs, as she had a career and match-high 17.
The Crimson Tide won the opening set 25-22 behind five kills from McQuaid. Cortney Warren was also strong in the opening set for UA, posting four kills on eight attempts to help the Tide hit .182 in the opening set. Alabama held South Carolina to a .125 hitting percentage, as Arenas had nine digs in the opening set.
Alabama opened a 2-0 lead in the match following a 25-17 win in the second set. The set was highlighted by the Tide hitting percentage of .295 as McQuaid, Warren and Vande Griend had four kills each. Moyer added a pair of service aces in the set as South Carolina was held to a .053 hitting percentage.
In a set that went down to the wire, UA out-hit the Gamecocks .412 to .333. McQuaid and Warren combined for 13 of Alabama’s 19 kills in the final set, with the pair having seven and six, respectively. Leigh Moyer added three of her four kills in the match in the final set.
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Arkansas Defeats Auburn, 3-1
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Behind a trio of double-double efforts from Jasmine Norton, Raymariely Santos and Kelli Stipanovich, the University of Arkansas volleyball team beat Auburn in four sets (25-23, 22-25, 25-15, 25-19) Friday evening at Barnhill Arena. Norton had a match-high 17 kills to go along with 16 digs, Santos tallied 40 assists and 10 digs and Stipanovich posted 13 kills and 10 digs. The Razorbacks improved to 12-7 overall and evened their Southeastern Conference record at 4-4.
The double-double for Norton was her sixth of the season, and fifth during SEC play. Santos posted her fifth double-double of the year. With 13 kills Friday against the Tigers, Kelli Stipanovich moved into sole possession of 14th place on Arkansas’ career kills list. The Razorback senior now has 1,133 career kills. Stipanovich has a team-leading eight double-doubles.
Roslandy Acosta was the third Razorbacks in double-digits with 10 kills on a .368 hitting percentage. From her libero position, Christa Alvarez also registered 16 digs for her fifth double-digit effort of the SEC season. Amanda Anderson and Kasey Heckelman each had three total blocks to lead the Razorbacks’ defensive efforts at the net.
Trailing by two late in the opening set, the Razorbacks reeled off four straight points to take a 21-19 lead. A kill by Norton forced Auburn to call the first timeout of the match and Stipanovich found the floor on the next play to cap Arkansas’ run. The home team arrived at set point after a service ace from Raymariely Santos. The Tigers won the next two points to stay alive but on the team’s third set point, Norton put the ball away to clinch the opener, 25-23.
Auburn squared the match with a win in the second set. With the score tied at 7-all, the Tigers won four points in a row to push ahead. The visitors maintained its lead for the rest of the set despite a late push from Arkansas. The Razorbacks saved two set points before Auburn closed out the set, 25-22, with a kill from Sarah Bullock.
Out of the locker room, Arkansas reclaimed momentum by winning seven of the first eight points in set three. With a kill by Norton, the Razorbacks stretched its lead to double digits, 17-7, for the first time. Auburn got no closer than eight points. Santos found the floor with a second-ball attack on set point to give Arkansas the set, 25-15. Arkansas posted a .385 hitting percentage in the third set.
The visitors jumped out to 6-2 lead to start game four but the Razorbacks fought back to tie the score at 7-all. Late in the set, Arkansas turned a tie score into a three-point lead, 21-18, following a tandem block from Anderson and Roslandy Acosta. The Razorbacks ended the match on a 7-1 run to close out Auburn and open the weekend with a win.
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State Sweeps Kentucky
STARKVILLE, Miss. --- The largest volleyball crowd in MSU and Mississippi collegiate volleyball history saw Mississippi State notch another huge first Friday night, a straight-sets win over SEC-leading Kentucky in a match played in Humphrey Coliseum. The Bulldogs (10-8/5-4 SEC) downed the Wildcats (17-4/8-2 SEC) 25-23, 25-18 and 25-19 to earn the program’s first win over a ranked opponent.
“I am so very proud of our players,” beamed third-year State coach Jenny Hazelwood. “We executed our game plan well tonight and the team seemed very comfortable playing in front of a huge supportive crowd.”
It was Mississippi State’s second win in 42 matches against Kentucky. MSU’s lone previous win over Kentucky was a five-set decision in Starkville in 1994.
For the second time this season, Mississippi State set a school and state collegiate attendance mark when 4,535 fans watched the Bulldogs play their first game in Humphrey Coliseum since 2008. MSU returns to its regular on-campus home Sunday for a 1:30 p.m. match against the 18th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers (15-3/8-1 SEC).
Senior Caitlin Rance for the 18th consecutive match paced the Bulldogs, hitting a crisp .282 and notching her ninth double-double of the campaign with 14 kills and 13 digs. Rance notched seven of MSU’s 18 kills in the opening set as the Bulldogs pulled away from a n 18-18 deadlock to win. State hit at a match-best .302 in the frame and overcame an equally impressive seven-kill showing by UK’s Ashley Frazier.
Frazier, who paced the Wildcats on the night with a match-high 15 kills, delivered a point-scoring swing to open the second set. But State reeled off the next three points and never trailed again in a 25-18 win. Rance put down five kills with nine digs and Faith Steinwedell added four kills as the Bulldogs took a 2-0 match lead into intermission.
Kentucky claimed the momentum in the early going of the third set and with a kill by Ann Armes held a 16-15 advantage. But the Bulldogs went on a 3-0 run, helped along by two of UK’s 11 attack errors in the set, and went on to nail down the historic first win over a ranked foe.
Rance, who last weekend joined Mississippi State’s career top 10 in kills, raised her career kills total to 990, just 10 short of another career milestone. With her second dig against Kentucky, the Kingwood, Texas, native hit the 600-dig mark for her career.
Senior middle blocker Hannah Wilkinson improved her team-leading attack percentage hitting .467 with seven kills on 15 error-free attacks. She paced MSU at the net with a match-leading five blocks.
MSU junior libero Hillary Parker took match honors on defense with 17 digs. Faith Steinwedell backed her 11 kills with nine digs, just missing her third double-double of the year.
Kentucky, a five-set Wednesday night winner over Tennessee, finished the match with a 42-40 edge in kills but struggled offensively with 24 attack errors.
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Balanced Offense Pushes Volleyball Past Georgia
BATON ROUGE – LSU’s offense exploded for a .403 team hitting percentage, its best effort since opening weekend, as the Tiger volleyball team had a quartet of players post double figure kills during a 3-1 triumph over Georgia [25-18, 19-25, 25-16, 25-13] Friday in the program’s annual Pink Match to promote breast cancer awareness at the Maravich Center.
LSU (12-6, 5-3) picked up its sixth straight win over the Bulldogs (8-11, 4-5 SEC) as Malorie Pardo produced a match-high 49 assists to go along with nine digs. The League City, Texas, native was just shy of her team-leading seventh double-double of the season.
Desiree Elliott, Madie Jones, Michele Williams and Nicole Willis each pounded home double figures in kills to combine for 48 of LSU’s 59 spikes on the match. All four players connected for over a .300 hitting percentage.
Jones led the way with a match-high 16 kills, turned in four digs and added three blocks. Elliott belted 12 kills on 17 swings with only one error for a match-high .647 ratio. Williams and Willis knocked 10 kills apiece. It marked the first time that Willis reached double digit kills since SEC opening weekend at Alabama back on Sept. 18.
Meghan Mannari fueled the back row with a match-best 17 digs, her 15th time in 17 appearances she has corralled 10 or more digs on the season. Sam Delahoussaye and Helen Boyle reeled in 10 digs each as LSU’s back row held a commanding 63-39 digs advantage.
The Tiger defense was major factor and limited Georgia to a minuscule .122 hitting clip. Brittany Northcutt and Kathleen Luft, who entered the match among the SEC’s Top 10 in kills per set, were held below their season averages and finished with nine spikes each.
“We were definitely ready to get back on the winning side,” Jones said. “We had great week at practice; we were going really hard every day in the gym, regrouping, and coming together as a team. I am really proud of how we played tonight, and we still have ways to go. It definitely has something to do with how we prepared.”
The first set featured 10 ties and five lead changes before LSU ran off 12 of the last 17 points of the set to win going away, 25-18. All square at 13-13, the Tigers heated up with five straight points capped by a Williams kill to make it 18-13. UGA trimmed the deficit down to four points on three occasions, the latest at 20-16, but LSU used a Willis spike to put away the frame. The Tigers recorded a team-high 78 percent sideout efficiency during the opening stanza.
The Bulldogs strung together the first four points to come back during set two. Georgia led wire-to-wire as the Tigers were never to find their rhythm. The Bulldogs made the most of five LSU’s serving miscues and converted on 17-of-20 sideouts attempts. A Gates ace allowed UGA to claim a 25-19 win and evened the match at a set apiece heading into the locker room.
LSU came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders and fired out to a quick 12-4 advantage to start the third set. Boyle, Elliott, Jones and Willis slapped two kills each to spark the run. The Bulldogs got back to 17-11, but the Tigers responded with eight of the final 13 points to clinch the 25-16 victory. LSU’s offense racked up a match-bests with 16 kills and a .556 hitting percentage during the set.
The Tigers kept up their strong play in the opening parts of the fourth stanza and secured 10 of the first 13 points of the frame. LSU received five kills off of Jones’ powerful right arm and ran away with a dominating 25-13 performance. The Tiger defense forced Georgia into a match-high eight hitting mistakes as the final two frames featured only one tie and zero lead changes.
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Gators Sweep Ole Miss
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 13 Florida volleyball team continued its sweep streak with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-11) victory over Ole Miss on Friday evening. The Gators earned their 12th sweep of the season and fifth straight, moving to 14-3 on the season and 7-1 in SEC play. Ole Miss fell to 5-12 on the year and 1-8 in conference action.
Florida’s pin hitters shouldered much of the offensive firepower on the evening, as senior right-side/setter and Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award finalist Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) hit a match-high .500 against the Rebels, registering seven kills to go along with 22 assists and seven digs. Junior right-side hitter Tangerine Wiggs (Seattle, Wash.) and senior outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) notched 12 kills apiece, and senior outside hitter Stephanie Ferrell (Los Angeles, Calif.) hit .417 with eight kills against Ole Miss. The Gators hit .341 against the Rebels, who registered just a .165 hitting clip.
Florida’s float servers wreaked havoc on the Ole Miss serve receive, as senior middle blocker Cassandra Anderson (Bakersfield, Calif.), sophomore setter Chanel Brown (Tempe, Ariz.) and freshman defensive specialist Madison Monserez (Orlando, Fla.) each registered two service aces and the Gators’ aggressive serving held Ole Miss to a sideout percentage of 53 percent. Redshirt freshman libero Taylor Unroe (Muncie, Ind.) led the way defensively with a match-high 14 digs.
The first set was a tight affair, as the teams had eight ties in the opening stanza. Florida only trailed by two the entire match, as Ole Miss jumped ahead at 10-8. A kill by Wiggs sparked a 4-0 Florida run with Anderson behind the service line, forcing a Rebel timeout with the Gators leading, 13-10. Florida never lost the lead after the first timeout was called, as the Gators continued to swing from the pins whenever Ole Miss pulled within the Florida lead. Ole Miss attempted a run at the end of the set, but a kill by Ferrell gave the opening set to Florida, 25-23.
The second set was Wiggs’ biggest of the evening, as the junior posted six kills in the second stanza. Florida went on a 4-0 run early in the set, courtesy of Monserez’s serve. A stuff block by Anderson and Jaeckel gave Florida their largest lead of the set, 14-9. The Gators matched that lead after Brown’s service ace at 16-11, but the Rebels pulled within two points, forcing a Gator timeout at 18-16. Florida stormed towards the finish behind big swings from Ferrell, Jaeckel and Wiggs, who put down the final kill of the second stanza, 25-21.
Florida used that momentum to open the third set, with the Gators going on a 4-0 opening run behind the serve of Monserez, who served seven points for the Gators in the third stanza. The Orange and Blue continued to string runs together, using Jaeckel’s four third-set kills to take as much as a 13-point lead over Ole Miss. The Gators’ back row play was stellar in the third, as Unroe registered eight of her 14 digs in the third set and Florida’s best sideout percentage of the evening came in the third stanza at 81 percent. The Gators rode the momentum of Anderson’s serve, as Florida put together five straight points towards the end of the set, 21-10. The Orange and Blue forced Ole Miss into a .000 hitting percentage in the final stanza, taking the set and the match, 25-11.