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Madison Cooler
Joe Chance
1
West Ala. UWA 22-10
3
Winner BARRY BARRY 29-3
West Ala. UWA
22-10
1
Final
3
BARRY BARRY
29-3
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
West Ala. UWA 25 10 20 20 (1)
BARRY BARRY 23 25 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball |

Tigers Fall in NCAA Regional Tournament Quarterfinals

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.– After making the NCAA South Regional Tournament for the first time, the #7 West Alabama Tigers fought hard but fell in the quarterfinals to the #2 Barry Buccaneers in four sets Thursday afternoon at the Rubin Arena on the campus of Palm Beach Atlantic University.
 
UWA finishes the season 22-10. Barry moves to 28-3 and a regional semifinal matchup against the Tampa Spartans.
 
"This was our second time playing Barry and I have to give credit to Steve (Hendricks) and his staff," said Head coach Alexis Meeks. "They are a very talented, powerful dynamic team. We had a good game plan coming in and we executed well in the first set. This is a very young, inexperienced team. We made a couple of errors going down the stretch, but it was a great match and that's all I could ask for from my kids."
 
The Tigers won the first set 25-23. The Bucs won the final three sets 25-10, 25-20 and 25-20.
 
Madison Cooler led the Tigers with 20 kills, seven kills and two blocks.
 
"Coach set a goal for me to have 28 kills because she knew it would motivate me," said Cooler. "I just went out there and gave it my all and I didn't make the goal, but I was really proud of that. I went out swinging."
 
Jessica Akiona posted a double-double with 10 kills and 18 digs while adding three blocks. Taylor Donato posted 12 kills, nine digs, three service aces and two blocks. Kassie Till made 43 assists and added three kills.
 
While the season comes to an end, there's reason for optimism for the future.
 
"We're so young, so talented. We're going to learn from this and continue making adjustments as we go through the spring here and continue to add it to next season," said Meeks.
 
"I think that it's really important to look at our chemistry when you talk about strength," said Donato. "A lot of how good we did this season was because we care about each other and our coaches care about us. I think that's what really carried us this far and it's what's going to continue to care us far in the future. We have a lot to learn, but all of us are 100 percent ready to keep going."
 
UWA's 13 Gulf South Conference wins set a record for the most in a season for the program and today's contest marked the first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.
 
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