Revenge was on the minds of the Georgia volleyball team Sunday as it faced off against the Alabama Crimson Tide – a team that swept the Bulldogs in September.

Coming off a Friday night win against Mississippi State, the Bulldogs (13-9, 4-7 SEC) managed to avenge the loss to Alabama (6-16, 4-8 SEC) by defeating the Crimson Tide in four sets.

Georgia had a special guest in attendance for the match as they welcomed head football coach Mark Richt to partake in Sunday afternoon’s festivities.

“He’s a special friend. He’s invited me, from the day I stepped foot on this campus, into a friendship,” head coach Joel McCartney said. “We both come from the same hometown, Omaha, Neb., and we’ve just got some ties there and that’s kinda how it started but we’ve grown a friendship. He really wants to support not just our program but really all the programs. He understands the sport community and the Bulldog nation and if we can get it working in all sports it just is a reciprocal value for everybody else.”

Richt helped get things started by serving the ceremonial first ball of the match even though it took more than one try to do so after his first attempt didn’t clear the net.

After coming through on his second serve, Richt joined McCartney on the bench for the remainder of the match as he provided some extra encouragement for the Bulldogs.

The encouragement seemingly paid off immediately as Georgia jumped out to a 22-14 lead over the Crimson Tide before taking the first set by a final score of 25-20.

The Georgia defense was suffocating throughout the first set as it held Alabama to a team hitting percentage of just .073 and posted five team blocks.

Junior outside hitter Erika Clark led the Bulldogs with five kills as Georgia never trailed throughout the course of the opening set.

In the second set, the Bulldogs found themselves in a back-and-forth battle that yielded 17 tie scores and nine lead changes.

Trailing 24-21 and with Richt applauding from the sidelines, Georgia’s comeback bid fell short as they dropped the set 25-22 and headed into halftime tied at one set apiece.

The Georgia defense once again held the Crimson Tide to a low team hitting percentage of .103 but the Bulldogs were unable to do anything on the offensive end as they posted a mere .089 team hitting percentage of their own.

The Bulldogs’ offense returned to form in the third set as they led for a majority of the way en route to a 25-18 victory.

Led by sophomore middle hitter Ann Dylla’s team-high five set kills, the Bulldogs posted an impressive .371 team hitting percentage while holding Alabama to a .189 equivalent.

In the fourth and final set, the Bulldogs held a 20-12 lead before Alabama went on a 9-3 run to pull back within two points of Georgia.

But the Bulldogs would stymie the Tide’s comeback as they would go on to take the set by a score of 25-21.

Dylla led the team with a career-high 13 kills and provided the Bulldog offense with an unexpected source of production from her middle hitter position.

“I think that Val [Gonzalez] and I definitely have different offenses and they complement each other in our system,” Dylla said.

“Just being able to balance each other out really helps.”

The victory on Sunday improved Georgia’s record against the SEC western division to 4-3 as it looks to keep pace in the conference race.

Up next for the Bulldogs will be a midweek matchup against the Auburn Tigers (13-8, 5-5 SEC) on Wednesday night at the Ramsey Student Center, with the tip-off scheduled for 7.