BUFFALO, N.Y. – Alabama capped its weekend at the UB Invite with a hard-fought five set win over Colgate Saturday morning.

Alabama (3-0) won the opening two sets, 25-21 and 25-19, before Colgate (0-1) rallied to even the match with a 29-27 win in the third and 25-16 decision in the fourth. Holding a 7-6 lead in the fifth set, the Crimson Tide closed it out with an 8-3 run to win, 15-9.

Junior Doris Carter led all players with 21 kills, adding 11 digs for her first double-double of the season. Freshman Alyiah Wells continued to impress at the middle, hitting .304 with nine kills along with a season-high six blocks. Sophomore Layne Stone earned a career-high 10 digs as one of three players in double digits, with junior Meghan Neelon just short of her own double-double with 45 assist and eight digs.

For their efforts over the weekend, senior Ginger Perinar and junior Kaylee Thomas were named to the All-Tournament team and Wells was named the Tournament MVP.

From Head Coach Lindsey Devine

"The key to our run down the stretch was getting the setters to understand how we were scoring. We needed to put a lot of confidence in all our attackers. At different moments throughout the fifth set, everyone contributed to the team's success.

"The game can be simple if you go back to the basics. It all starts with first-ball contacts. I thought that throughout the entire weekend our defensive players came in, served well and passed well and that built a lot of the momentum for our team."

Stat Leaders

Set-by-Set

Set One (Alabama 25, Colgate 21): Neither team could separate from the other in the first half of the opening frame, unable to build a lead larger than two points. Colgate took its first timeout trailing 15-13 and its second soon after, down 20-15. The Tide reached set point, 24-19, but took a timeout after the Raiders scored consecutive points to draw within three. A great block on the right side from Wells and Perinar after the break capped the four-point win for Alabama.

Set Two (Alabama 25, Colgate 19): The Raiders scored the first three points of the set and maintained their lead, pulling ahead 12-7 before the Tide took its first timeout. With its lead trimmed to three, Colgate took a timeout leading 14-11 and Alabama kept rolling after the break, scoring three more to tie it at 14-14. The Tide took its first lead of the set three points later, 16-15, and stayed in front for the remainder of the frame after a kill from Carter made it 18-17. A block from Wells and graduate student Eva Borrowdale made it 23-19, forcing the Raiders to burn their final timeout before consecutive points from the Tide closed it out.

made it 23-19, forcing the Raiders to burn their final timeout before consecutive points from the Tide closed it out. Set Three (Colgate 29, Alabama 27): Trailing 7-6 early, Alabama scored five unanswered to swing back ahead 11-7. The Raiders answered to tie it at 11-11 but the Tide pulled back ahead, leading by as much as five points. With the score 20-15, Colgate rallied to tie it up at 21-21 and took the lead on a service ace three points later, 23-22. The Raiders reached set point five times before eventually breaking through to win, 29-27, and avoid the sweep

Set Four (Colgate 25, Alabama 16): Colgate's momentum carried into the fourth set, leading 7-4 before Alabama had to take an early timeout. The lead remained at three when the Raiders took a timeout ahead 14-11, but a 4-0 run quickly extended Colgate's lead to 18-11. The Tide took its second timeout trailing 21-14 and eventually lost the set, 25-16.

Set Five (Alabama 15, Colgate 9): The teams traded evenly to start the frame, with Alabama eventually moving up by two at the halfway mark, 8-6. After the teams switched sides, a service ace from freshman PG Garrison made it 9-6 and Colgate took a timeout. A 6-3 run closed out the frame in the Tide's favor, winning 15-9 to secure the five-set win.

Key to the Match

After giving up a 2-0 match lead, Alabama made a late 8-3 push in the fifth set to come back and earn the five-set victory. The run included three kills from Wells and a pair from Carter.

Player of the Match

Junior Kaylee Thomas covered plenty of ground on defense, digging 20 balls and committing just one reception error in 19 attempts, seeing the second-most targets of any Alabama player.

Up Next

Next weekend, Alabama heads to Richmond, Va., for three matches at the VCU Invitational. The Tide opens against Navy (10 a.m.) and VCU (5 p.m.) on Friday, Sept. 6 and concludes against NC State (1 p.m.) on Saturday, Sept. 7.

For the latest information on the team, follow @AlabamaVball on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Volleyball on Facebook. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.