By outreach@cw.ua.edu (Ben Boynton)
The Alabama volleyball team suffered its first loss of the season Friday night, as Alabama fell 3-2 to Tulsa as part of the Hurricane Classic. The Crimson Tide is now 1-1 on the year after defeating South Dakota earlier the same day.
Alabama took the first set in a long 30-28 battle before Tulsa evened things up with a 29-27 second set win. The Hurricane pushed the Crimson Tide to the brink with a 25-21 victory in the third set, but Alabama responded to tie it up with a 25-22 win.
It all came down to the fifth set, with both teams having solid opportunities to put the match away. Tulsa held a match point at 14-13 before Alabama scored two straight points to earn a match point itself. The Hurricane responded with three straight points to win the set 17-15 and the match.
Redshirt senior middle blocker Krystal Rivers led Alabama with 23 kills, and junior outside hitter Kat Hutson added 19 kills of her own. Freshman middle blocker Haley McSparin also chipped in 16 kills, while junior middle blocker Leah Lawrence posted 14 kills. Rivers secured a double-double by adding 14 digs, and redshirt freshman setter Shannon Mikesky posted her second straight double-double with 67 assists and 16 digs. Junior libero Natalie Murison led the team in digs with 18, and McSparin paced the Crimson Tide with six blocks.
Alabama will wrap up its portion of the Hurricane Classic with a match against Incarnate Word Saturday morning at 11 a.m. CT.
Source:: The Crimson White Sports
