The weekend is full of potential for the Alabama volleyball team. The Tideis poised to make 2013 a 20-win season, the seventh since 1989. All the team needs is one more win.
This weekend, Alabama also has the chance to topple the last undefeated team in the SEC, No. 7 Missouri. That is, unless Auburn gets to them first.
Setter Sierra Wilson said she would like Missouri to come in undefeated.
“Of course,” Wilson said. “I want everyone to beat Auburn.”
Auburn was swept by Missouri in October. The ranked Missouri Tigers have only dropped seven sets and boast the best record in the nation at 27-0.
“Them being undefeated, it just raises the stakes for them, and there’s really not a whole lot of pressure on us,” Wilson said. “So I think we’re all going to play with that mind, and I think that will give us kind of an edge.”
As for reaching a seventh 20-win season, the team is taking it one game at a time, both Wilson and coach Ed Allen said.
“We don’t think about that when we play. You just get as many wins as you can,” Wilson said. “And when you break records, that’s great, but I guess the focus isn’t really on the long, long term.”
Before Alabama can take on Missouri, the team has to play Arkansas.
“The only thing that we’re thinking about is how to beat Arkansas right now,” Allen said. “We’ll reflect back on the number of wins that we had after the season’s over with and hopefully take quite a bit of satisfaction in what we accomplished, but right now, the only thing that’s important to us is the next matchup.”
Alabama has two players ranked in the top 10 nationally. Krystal Rivers is No. 9 in hitting percentage with .448 coming off last weekend. Wilson’s average of 12.01 assists per set put her at No. 4 in the nation.
“Like the whole [20] wins thing, I try not to pay too much attention to numbers,” Wilson said. “And if I get on the list, then that’s amazing, and it’s an honor.”
It’s a combination of individual skill and teamwork that Allen said he’s emphasizing going into this weekend.
“Get better with every match that we play, and play as well as we’re capable of playing individually and collectively together,” Allen said. “But I think executing as well as we’re capable of executing is the big piece as we move down the stretch.”
