By Mary Grace Showfety and Rebekah Dye

CW Staff

The Alabama volleyball team returns to Foster Auditorium this weekend to host the ninth annual Hampton Inn Bama Bash.

Entering into the tournament with a 6-1 record, the Crimson Tide wants to walk away with four more victories.

Head coach Ed Allen said the team, made up of nine freshman and six returning players, has started to play as one unit.

“I think we’ve progressed as a team,” Allen said. “The team is clearly starting to play better around one another and that will continue to grow with new matches.”

The Tide swept the competition 3-0 in each match at the Elon Phoenix Classic last weekend and saw improvement in reducing errors and increasing hitting percentage.

“We did what we wanted to do and didn’t drop a set and we came home with progress,” setter Andrea McQuaid said.

Over the course of the weekend there was a noticeable difference in the Tide’s defensive effort, and it hopes to see continuous improvement this weekend.

“We’re definitely becoming more aggressive in defense,” McQuaid said. “Defense is just a completely different mindset in the game of volleyball. It’s just see ball, get ball. You’ve just got to go for stuff and never hesitating and there’s always room for improvement.”

McQuaid earned the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award after ending the weekend with a hitting percentage of .410, 30 kills and five errors.

“It was because of my team, it’s such a team sport,” McQuaid said of her MVP award. “It’s a team sport so we all contributed in the wins and I don’t think there’s one person more than the other – everyone on the team is important.”

McQuaid attributed much of her success to freshman setter Sierra Wilson.

Wilson, who finished the weekend with 106 assists, 20 digs and five kills, does not want the team to become complacent heading into the upcoming weekend.

“[We’re working on] our mental focus at the beginning of games and also just staying consistent with our energy throughout the entire game and being able to just finish,” Wilson said. “That will be something we’re going to be working on during practice.”

Starting Friday, Alabama will look to defend its home court as Lamar and Austin Peay start off the round robin style tournament.

Alabama holds a 2-1 record against Lamar, and in five meetings since 1989, the Tide is undefeated against Austin Peay.

Moving into Saturday, the Tide hopes to continue its undefeated record against Alabama State and East Tennessee State. The team anticipates the match-up, not having faced East Tennessee in 14 years.

Having studied film and scouting reports from all four competitors, Alabama hopes to control the court despite who is on the other side of the net.

“I consider volleyball to be like a game of chess,” McQuaid said. “You have to know what to do before it happens so something else can happen later down the road. … It’s just manipulating your opponent and working together as a team.”

As with every other match, the Tide hopes to come out on top and walk away with a greater understanding of each other’s tendencies.

“Our expectation is to win our home tournament and to progress as a team and feel better collectively and individually,” Allen said. “If those three things happen then we’ll consider it a success.”

When: 11:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Where: Foster Auditorium

Price: General admission tickets are $5 on Friday and will be complimentary on Saturday. Free for students with ACT Card.