Georgia Earns Sunday Sweep of Alabama

Sunday, October 23

Athens, Ga.

12:00 p.m.

University of Georgia

15-5,6-3SEC

Alabama

7-15,1-9SEC

Alabama

Georgia

October 23, 2022 | Volleyball

Box Score

ATHENS, Ga. – The University of Georgia women's volleyball team completed its three-win week with a sweep of the Alabama Crimson Tide at Stegeman Coliseum Sunday afternoon (25-20, 25-22, 26-24).

Georgia improves to 6-3 in SEC play and 15-5 on the season.

Senior Kacie Evans tallied 13 kills followed by 12 from junior Sophie Fischer and 11 from redshirt-sophomore Mackenzie Norris.

Sophomore setter Clara Brower picked up her second double-double of the weekend with a career-best 14 digs to lead the team along with 18 assists.

Defensively, Fischer put up five blocks as Norris added four.

Georgia combined for eight aces in the three-set match including two each from Alexa Fortin, Amber Stivrins, and Norris.

Following a four-point Alabama (7-15, 1-9) run to tie it up at eight, Georgia would use four-straight run of its own to open a 16-12 advantage. Alabama battled to tie it at 18-all. Knotted at 20, Georgia used a 5-0 serving run from Stivrins to close the set for the Bulldogs 25-20. Fischer and Norris each paced Georgia's offense with five first set kills.

Georgia forced an early Tide timeout in the second set, going ahead 10-4 on a 5-1 run. Georgia kept its foot on the gas, eventually finding a 16-5 lead in the frame. With Georgia ahead 20-9, Alabama slowed the Bulldogs' offense and whittled Georgia's lead down to one, 23-22. An Evans kill and a Norris ace finished the set for the Dogs, 25-22. Evans put down six kills in the second.

Alabama found an early lead in the third, but a 4-0 Georgia win forced a tie at 12-all. The Tide reclaimed a three-point advantage, but Georgia stayed within striking distance, winning three-straight to force another tie at 17. Down 19-18, a 4-0 run gave Georgia its first lead of the set, 22-19, forcing an Alabama timeout. Georgia drew match point, 24-21, however, Alabama didn't go down without a fight, knotting it at 24. Back-to-back kills by Fischer and Evans secured the 26-24 set win and the sweep of the Tide.

Georgia will travel to Columbia, Missouri for two matches next Friday and Saturday. First serve for both matches is set for 2 p.m., ET, between the Bulldogs and Tigers.

Head Coach Tom Black
On how it feels to get two more SEC wins at home after sweeping Florida...
"Wins are precious, especially in this conference. We're always happy with that and are just trying to get better."

On his message to the team during the final timeout...
"Hitting it in, we needed to start hitting it in. We were giving them too many free points. Then, just to get back to what we were doing in the beginning, stay connected, put it in, get a little tougher on their out of system hitting, and try to transition a little more."

Senior outside hitter Kacie Evans
On what was going through her mind on the match's final point…
"There's a lot of things to look around. They had the best server back there leading the conference in aces right now. We just got aced on that last point, so we were like, 'Okay, now we got to turn it up.' I think we knew the one job is if we stick it, we play our game, we're fine. So, our system worked in that moment. I think that's just all we had to worry about, just playing Georgia volleyball."

On winning two-straight SEC home matches after sweeping Florida…
"It's unreal. Anything can happen in this conference. Everyone's going to battle for a spot. Alabama is one of those teams that can really surprise you, and they have athletes to do it. There's a lot of things that we gave to them, but they also turned back and battled against us. There're things that we have to keep improving on and they definitely were very dominant this whole weekend."