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Volleyball Wraps up Beanpot Classic with 3-1 Win over Sacred Heart Crimson Tide struggles early but wins three straight sets to put Pioneers away in four
Andrea McQuaid hit .417 against the Pioneers, recording 12 kills with two errors in the match.

Andrea McQuaid hit .417 against the Pioneers, recording 12 kills with two errors in the match.

Aug. 25, 2012

Box Score

BOSTON, Mass. – The Alabama volleyball team wrapped up the Beanpot Classic with a 3-1 (15-25, 25-14, 25-19, and 25-12) victory over the Sacred Heart Pioneers from Soloman Court on the Northeastern University campus. With the victory, the Crimson Tide is now 2-1 on the season, after posting a 3-0 win over Holy Cross and suffering a 3-2 loss to Northeastern yesterday in the tournament.  

After hitting .073 and dropping the opening set 25-15, Alabama dominated the match over the final three sets, and finished the match with a .257 hitting mark. UA hit .464 during the second set, before hitting .297 in the third and .267 in the fourth set. The defense also stepped up for the Tide, as they held the Pioneers to a .153 hitting mark for the match, after Sacred Heart hit .394 in the opening frame. UA held SHU to a .000 hitting mark in the second and fourth sets and a .186 mark in the third.

Alabama had three players reach double digits in kills, as Pricilla Duke-Ezeji paced the squad with 13 kills. After posting one kill and four errors in the opening frame, Duke-Ezeji had 12 kills and two errors in the last three sets. Joining Duke-Ezeji in double figure kills were Andrea McQuaid and Laura Steiner with 12 and 10 respectively.

McQuaid hit over .400 for the second straight match, as the junior from Ovilla, Texas hit .417 with just two errors on 24 swings. Steiner had one kill and two errors in the first set, then in the final two sets she recorded nine kills with three errors to finish the match with a .200 hitting mark.

Sierra Wilson put together another solid match as she recorded 48 assists, two kills and two aces in the match. Kryssi Daniels had three of the seven Crimson Tide aces, bringing her team-leading total for the season to eight. Daniels also finished the match with 10 digs. Yukie Futami led the squad with 20 digs and Cristina Arenas added 12 digs.

Kayla Fitterer finished the day with nine kills on 25 attempts with two errors for a .280 hitting percentage. Fitterer also struggled in the opening set, posting just one kill with two errors on seven attempts to open the match.

UA tallied eight total blocks in the match, as Katherine White led the squad with six block assists. McQuaid chipped in with five assisted blocks and Kanesha Burch added to assisted blocks late in the match.

Alabama got off to a slow start in the opening set as SHU took a 13-5 lead, before opening the advantage to 21-10 following a pair of hitting errors by Steiner. Sacred Heart closed out the set with a .384 hitting mark en route to a 25-15 victory to open the match.

The Tide responded with a dominant performance the rest of the way, and it started with a .464 hitting mark in the second frame behind 11 kills from McQuaid and Fitterer, who had six and five respectively in the second set. After SHU tied the score at 11-11, Alabama went on a 14-3 run to close out the set.

Like the second set, the score was close at the midway point, as the Tide led 13-11. From there, a Fitterer kills sparked a 6-2 run that gave Alabama the breathing room it needed before going onto the 25-19 victory in the set.

In the fourth, Alabama jumped out to a 5-0 with Wilson serving to open the set, and the Tide cruised to a 25-12 victory in the set to close out the match. Steiner recorded six of her 10 kills in the final frame.

Alabama returns to action on Tuesday night with the 2012 home opener against Alabama A&M, with first serve scheduled for 7 p.m., from Foster Auditorium. The live webcast that includes both audio and video will be available through TIDETV on RollTide.com.

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