University of Georgia
Alabama
Georgia Drops Four-Set Match To Alabama
September 25, 2011 | Volleyball
Sept. 25, 2011
Box Score | Box Score in PDF Format 
ATHENS, Ga. - The Georgia volleyball team dropped a four-set, Southeastern Conference match to Alabama on Sunday afternoon at the Ramsey Student Center.
Alabama (7-7, 1-3 SEC) won the first set, 25-21, but Georgia (5-9, 1-3 SEC) evened the match at 1-1 by the second set, 25-21. The third set then went to extra points before the Crimson Tide came away with the edge at 30-28 before going on to take the fourth set, 25-22.
"The team showed that we have some fight," Georgia head coach Lizzie Stemke said. "You can see the hunger that we have, but we keep getting ourselves in a hole with our serve and pass game. We struggled in that area tonight, and when you struggle with the serve and the pass game, it's difficult to win."
Kayla Fitterer led the Crimson Tide in the contest with a match-best 21 kills. Fitterer's offensive lead was supported by Cortney Warren and Leigh Moyer with 14 and 12 kills, respectively. Andrea McQuaid also had a solid performance for Alabama nearly finishing with a triple double with 25 assists, 12 digs and seven kills.
Georgia's top performances in the match came from sophomore outside hitter Brittany Northcutt, senior middle blocker Elizabeth Reid and senior setter Kathleen Gates. Northcutt had a team-best 15 kills while Reid notched a Georgia career-best 12 kills on a career-best .611 hitting percentage. Gates tallied a season-best 54 assists, which raised her career assist total to 4,061, moving her to fifth all-time at UGA.
"I think we fought really hard as a team this weekend," Northcutt said. "We've been working on that this whole season and I think that if we can build on that, we can continue to get better and get some more wins."
In the team comparison, both squads notched 61 kills while Alabama did so on a .270 hitting percentage versus Georgia's .229 mark. The Bulldogs held the lead in both digs, 71-58, and blocks, 9.0-5.0. UGA sophomore libero Allison Summers led the match with 18 digs.
Sunday's contest was the second in a five-match home stand for Georgia. The stretch of matches in the Ramsey Center continues next weekend against South Carolina on Friday, Sept. 30, and No. 6 Florida on Sunday, Oct. 2.
