After a two game road trip, Alabama (9-4, 1-1 SEC) volleyball returned home and took its first Southeastern Conference win of the season against Arkansas in five sets.

After a hard fought first set, Alabama fell to Arkansas, 25-20. Late momentum in the first set carried into the second set for the Crimson Tide, resulting in a win for Alabama 25-20, tying the match 1-1. Alabama and Arkansas rallied back and forth in the third set, but the Razorbacks closed out the set with tight win 25-22.

“I just told the team to stay our course and trust what we did in practice this week,” coach Lindsey Devine said. “We just had to be patient and things would come our way.”

Alabama, not slacking off any, fought back and forth with the Razorbacks in the fourth set. After trailing by one, the Crimson Tide rallied back with an 8-3 run. Redshirt junior outside hitter Ashley Homan came in late in the fourth set. Homan’s kill and solo block put the Alabama at set point, 24-21. She closed out the set with a kill ending the set at 25-22 and forcing a fifth set.

Alabama closed out the fifth set quickly with only two ties early in the set. A kill from freshman middle blocker Alyiah Wells put Alabama in the lead, eventually completing the comeback with a final score of 15-9.

Junior Doris Carter carried the offense for the Crimson Tide finishing the game with a career high 22 kills, along with 11 digs for her second double-double of the season.

“I’m feeling great. I feel like the team is feeling great too,” Carter said. “We lost a game against Kennesaw State in preseason, so we are definitely just trying to defend our house and come out here and fight every game.”

Alabama’s defense was a strength in this match. Freshman outside hitter and setter Emily Janek and Wells teamed up for multiple blocks contributing to the teams overall 19 blocks. Janek said that she and Wells were working on perfecting their blocking during practice and brought that to the court against Arkansas.

The Crimson Tide will not have long before its next SEC opponent as the team will face its in-state rival Auburn on Wednesday. Alabama has won three out of the last four meetings against the Tigers.

“I understand that it is the big in-state rival; I’m aware of that. That’s what the girls talk about. It’s all around me,” Devine said. “For me, we are gonna take it and prepare just the same way we prepared here for Arkansas.”