After four straight SEC losses, Alabama found success at home as it defeated the Ole Miss Rebels in five sets.

Alabama dominated both on offense and on defense against the Rebels as it totaled 67 kills in the match, a new season-high, and 18 team blocks, the second-highest total this season. Freshman middle blocker Alyiah Wells had a major impact in both categories as the middle blocker finished with a double-double tallying 15 kills and a career-high 10 blocks.

“With Aliyah this week, and for the entire team, we really talked about our blocks and defense,” coach Lindsey Devine said. “If we use our eyes and gather the information from out opponent we are going to put ourselves in the best spot, and to come up with 10 blocks she really applied what we emphasized.”

For Wells, it was a much-needed first career double-double, as she and the rest of the Crimson Tide struggled in its last four SEC matches.

“I’ve had to grow a lot,” Wells said. “So it is just being consistent and not making little mistakes as well as working on the things that I can control so just hitting, staying aggressive, good ball placement and blocking. We have been doing a lot of blocking in practice and that has definitely paid off.”

With Wells having a career game, the Rebels had to adjust to try and slow the freshman down. This led to favorable one-on-one matchups for both junior outside hitter Doris Carter and senior outside hitter Ginger Perinar. Both outside hitters finished with double-digit kills with Carter tallying her fourth double-double of the season.

“That’s the Doris that I love,” Devine said. “The Doris that is a competitor. I think that she came in a focused mindset and when she plays to that ability it is pretty hard to stop her so I like that she was composed. I like that even when she made a mistake, she didn’t dwell on it. She just kept working through it.”

That mentality seemed to be the team mantra for the Crimson Tide, as the match saw 13 lead changes and was the team’s fifth match this season to go all five sets.

“I think it all comes back to our culture,” freshman libero/defensive specialist P.G. Garrison said. “We worked a lot to have a really tight team and I think we are like that especially when we are on the court. We can kind of turn to each other and if we make a mistake we just brush it off and get the next one.”

Alabama will return to Foster Auditorium for another home game on Friday, Nov. 8 as the Crimson Tide will host No. 24 Missouri.

“We just need to stick to the process, remember how you scored, remember what they are doing,” Devine said. “If we are patient and follow our game plan, great things are going to happen.”