By Rebekah Dye

Contributing Writer

The Tide began the season well, winning two matches at the Beanpot Classic in Boston. On Tuesday night, Alabama returned to its home turf for its opener against Alabama A&M. Winning the first three sets, the Crimson Tide claimed another win, beating the Bulldogs 3-0.

The team has dealt with a lot of inconsistency this season, especiallly with hitting errors, but Tuesday night offered a change of pace. Only 13 attacking errors were made in all three sets, much less than its 24-error average over the first three games

“We really executed tonight. I think one thing we really wanted to focus on from the tournament was hitting errors,” junior setter Andrea McQuaid said. “Reducing the errors in that area was really looking up for us.”

Sophomore Pricilla Duke-Ezeji also felt that consistency was improving.

“[Our consistency] was better than most matches that we played,” she said. “It is something that we are really working on in practice.”

In Tuesday’s game, the team was without outside hitter Kayla Fitterer, a key player on offense. Fitterer had surgery in the offeseason and has since been on a day to day basis. She is able to play, but the entire team wants to make sure she is healthy and in playing shape, so she is still questionable for this weekend’s tournament.

“She hasn’t had a chance to practice much or play much, so getting her into playing shape is important.” head coach Ed Allen said. “The main thing for us is we want her healthy as we begin SEC play.”

The Crimson Tide will participate in a three-game tournament this weekend, starting off with North Carolina Central on Aug. 31. With the momentum from the first home win and improvements in hitting errors, players and coaches want to bring home a 3-0 record from the tournament.

“We are excited. This was a good match for the kids to build on,” Allen said. “We will be a little stronger than the first week and each week builds that way, which is what we want as we begin SEC play.”