It took some time for freshman Brittany Thomas to adjust to the learning curve of college volleyball. She battled with inconsistent play in three tournaments before posting season-high stats in the win over UT Martin. She also had a career-high 16 kills and .469 hitting percentage in the final match.

“You know, the thing about being a freshman is there’s so much new information to take in, especially with her position,” setter Sierra Wilson said. “She’s playing all the way around. So not only does she have to focus on hitting, she has to focus on passing as well. And the college game is like a whole new world, and there’s usually a period of two weeks when you’re a freshman, and you’re just taking it all in, and you’re a little overwhelmed. But she’s starting to come out of that, and she’s a big help to our team.”

Thomas has 107 kills on the season, including 42 from last weekend. She is 16th in the SEC with 3.06 kills per set. She also leads the team with 14 aces and is sixth in the SEC with 0.40 aces per set.

“I think she has the ability to be as good as she chooses to want to be, and there will be some things that she’ll have to work really hard at prioritizing in her life in order to be the volleyball player that she’s capable of,” head coach Ed Allen said. “Not that we feel that she’s not doing a good job of that now. … And so, being able to manage everything else on the peripheral besides your academics and the volleyball part of things will have everything to do with how good can you get because she’s a great kid that works hard and is a positive team member, and so I think she can be as good as what she chooses to dedicate herself to be.”

As for Thomas, she said she enjoyed playing in Foster Auditorium and experiencing the traditions she saw her teammates do on her recruiting trip. The final match against UT Martin was just the icing on the cake for the outside hitter.

“That match was a lot of fun to play. I felt like that was one of the first matches we played completely together as a team, and so everybody fed off everybody else’s successes,” Thomas said. “It was just a fun environment to play. It was just a fun game to play in.”

This weekend Alabama looks to carry its momentum into its final tournament before conference play, the Clemson Classic.

“I think this tournament will be good for our team to play some more higher-level competition before we start SEC play, especially in our first match against Kentucky,” Thomas said. “That will be good to kind of amp up from this weekend and come together and really challenge ourselves as a group.”