Sept. 2, 2011
Box Score
DALLAS - Sophomore Sierra Whittaker pounded down 11 kills Friday evening at Moody Coliseum, but it was not enough as Lamar University fell 3-0 (19-25, 22-25, 19-25) to Alabama in the opening match of the SMU Doubletree Volleyball Invitational.
The Lady Cardinals are now 1-3 on the young season, and will continue play Saturday with a pair of matches. Lamar will take on host SMU at 12:30 p.m. before facing TCU at 4:30.
Lamar played well at the start of the match, grabbing an 11-10 lead in the first set. The Crimson Tide reeled off five straight points to take a 15-11 lead and never trailed again. Alabama, which attacked at a .283 percentage for the match, was a strong .344 in the first set.
Alabama was even more impressive offensively in set two as the Tide hit .394 as a team. Despite Alabama's play, Lamar was able to keep it close and was down just 22-21 with Whittaker serving. The Tide picked up kills from Leigh Moyer and Cortney Warren, and closed the set 25-22 after LU's Cynthia McCollum committed an attack error.
The Lady Cardinals looked like they would make it a 2-1 match as they jumped out quickly in set three. Junior middle blocker Christina Hobbs, who spent a redshirt season at Alabama before transferring to Lamar, put away a kill to give Lamar a 12-9 lead.
The Tide, which got a match-high 13 kills from Kayla Fitterer, were able to turn the match and took a lead at 14-13. Alabama never lost its lead in closing out the match with a 25-19 victory on a Cristina Arenas service ace.
As a team, Lamar did a good job at the net defensively and finished the match with nine total team blocks to just three for Alabama. However, the Crimson Tide finished with 16 more kills than Lamar (47-31), and also finished with eight more digs.
Whittaker was the only Lady Cardinal to reach double-digit kills, and she did so on an impressive .346 attack percentage. The Houston native added two service aces, four digs and two block assists.
Freshman setter Madi Martin had six kills, 22 assists and four block assists. Redshirt freshman Megan Schwartz picked up a career-high 16 digs for Lamar, while middle blocker Wendy Krell led the Lady Cardinals with five total blocks.
In addition to her 13 kills, Fitterer added a team-high 15 digs to post a double-double.
LAMAR
