Alabama Volleyball Wins Two on Opening Day

Another Crimson Tide team has officially gotten its season underway with a doubleheader sweep over Austin Peay and Marshall.

Alabama Athletics

It was a productive start to the season for Alabama volleyball. The Crimson Tide became the second Alabama team after soccer to start the 2021 season, and they picked up two separate four-set wins at the Marshall Invitational in Huntington, West Virginia on Friday. 

Alabama started the day with a come-from-behind win against Austin Peay. The Governors won the opening set 25-19, and the Crimson Tide came back to win the next three sets to begin the season with a 1-0 record under third year head coach Lindsey Devine. 

Junior Kennedy Muckelroy led the way in game one with 17 kills and three aces, and Emily Janek had 32 assists. Alabama improves to 7-0 all time against Austin Peay.

Alabama Athletics

To cap off the night, Alabama played the host team, the Marshall Thundering Herd. Once again, the Crimson Tide lost the opening set, but then came back to win three straight and eventually the match 3-1.

The first three sets were all tightly contested before Alabama was able to pull away in the fourth. Kendyl Reaugh led the Tide with 16 kills against Marshall, closely followed by last season's kill leader Abby Marjama with 14. 

Alabama Athletics

Last year during the all-SEC schedule because of the pandemic, the team was 7-15 overall and started the season with four straight losses, so a 2-0 start has to be a much better feeling for Devine as she begins year three at the head of the Alabama volleyball program. 

The Alabama volleyball team will wrap up its time at the Marshall Invitational against Miami (Ohio) Saturday at 9 a.m.