The Alabama volleyball team is off to its best start in six years after a 4-0 tournament this weekend. The Tide holds a record of 10-1 heading into Tuesday’s game against the Samford Bulldogs.

“This is the most wins we’ve had in a preseason since I’ve been here,” senior Kayla Fitterer said. “Our confidence is up, which is really good to go into SECs. Samford will be a really tough game on Tuesday leading up to it.”

Fitterer has been nursing a foot injury but played two of the four games from the tournament. She is now cleared to play every game from here on out, which is good news for this Crimson Tide team. This season Fitterer has posted 76 kills, a .221 hitting percentage and is someone that the team looks to heading into the upcoming weeks.

“The main thing for us is we want her healthy as we begin SEC play,” head coach Ed Allen said.

With Fitterer being out and the new freshmen on the team, the Tide hasn’t been able to field a steady lineup. Even so, Alabama has made progress as a team and has seen potential form in its new members.

“Considering how many new people we have, we’re doing pretty well,” freshman outside hitter Laura Steiner said. “We’ve been trying a lot of things with the lineup, especially with Kayla being injured, and we’ve done pretty well with what we’ve got. We know things are about to get amped up over the next week with SEC actually starting.”

The Bulldogs had their best season last year, clinching the SEC Championship for the first time in school history with a 29-5 record. This season, Samford returns every starter from the championship team and added one new freshman middle blocker.

The Bulldogs are 1-16 against Alabama all-time, with the only win coming just last year, and are on a four-game winning streak.

“Samford’s a solid team that will challenge for the So-Con title as they did last year as well,” Allen said. “Just being more consistent out of serve-receive and the momentum of being 10-1 will be important for us.”