BAYAMON, Puerto Rico. - Alabama volleyball opened its weekend at the Puerto Rico Clasico with a tough five-set win over Virginia Tech Thursday night.Alabama (4-1) and Virginia Tech (3-1) traded set victories throughout the match, sending both teams to a fifth set. The Tide led by as much as four points late in the fifth before the Hokies fought back within one late. Back-to-back kills by Kat Hutson and Krystal Rivers ended the set, 15-12, and gave Alabama the close win. Rivers accounted for 22 of the teams 56 kills, hitting .326 along with 14 digs, good for her second double-double of the season. Brittany Thomas and Natalie Murison tallied 13 digs each, with Thomas hitting .333 with nine kills.Virginia Tech took an early two-run lead in the first set and eventually pulled ahead by five points at the halfway mark, leading 12-7 as Alabama took a timeout. A 7-2 run out of the break allowed the Tide to tie the score at 14-14 and a kill by Hutson gave Alabama its first lead of the frame, 15-14, with the Hokies taking a timeout. The two teams traded back and forth until, tied at 22-22, a block by Thomas and back-to-back kills by Rivers and Thomas gave Alabama the 25-22 win.The Hokies charged out to an early 8-3 lead in set two, forcing an early Tide timeout. Virginia Tech maintained its five-point lead at the next Alabama timeout, up 13-8, and eventually hit the 20-point mark with a 10-point lead. The Hokies reached set point with a double-digit lead, 24-13, and eventually won, 25-14, to even the match at 1-1.Tied at 2-2 early in set three, Alabama built a large lead with a 9-3 run as Virginia Tech took a timeout trailing 11-5. The Hokies burned its second timeout soon after, trailing 15-8, but eventually cut the deficit to five points as Alabama took its own timeout leading 18-13. The Tide continued to surge ahead, closing out the set with a service ace by Murison to win 25-16 and take a 2-1 match lead.The two teams traded points back and forth through the first half of set four, with neither team taking a lead larger than two points. The Hokies took its largest lead at 14-11 but the Tide swung back in front, 17-16, with Virginia Tech taking a timeout. Looking to close out the match, the Tide pulled ahead 21-17 but the Hokies rallied and scored seven-straight points and hit set point, 24-21. A kill by Hutson briefly gave Alabama possession but Virginia Tech knocked in a kill to win the set, 25-22, and force a fifth set.A service ace by Rivers gave Alabama an early 6-3 lead in set five at Virginia Techs first timeout and two more points made it an 8-3 lead at the midway point of the set. The Hokies fought back to draw within one point, 9-8, but the Tide pulled back ahead 13-9 before Virginia Tech managed to make it a 13-12 game as Alabama took its last timeout. A kill by Hutson made it match point and Rivers capped the win with a kill for a final score of 15-12.Next up, the Tide continues play at the Puerto Rico Clasico against Florida State on Friday, Sept. 2 at 4:30 p.m. CT.For the latest information on Alabama volleyball, follow the team on Twitter (@AlabamaVball), Instagram (AlabamaVball) and Facebook. LeVeon Bell Womens Jersey . -- An ugly goal by Nick Bonino helped the Anaheim Ducks overcome the defensive-minded Phoenix Coyotes on a night when their ragged power play continued to struggle. Dennis Byrd Jersey . -- Jimmy Walkers first PGA Tour trophy came with a special gift tucked inside. http://www.jetsrookiestore.com/Jets-Trevon-Wesco-Jersey/ . -- Jacksonville wide receiver Cecil Shorts will likely be a game-time decision whether hell play Sunday in the Jaguars home game against the San Diego Chargers. Jamal Adams Womens Jersey . In the response filed Wednesday to the complaint by 30-year-old Alexander Bradley, attorneys say the former University of Florida player is invoking his Fifth Amendment right that protects people from incriminating themselves. Custom New York Jets Jerseys . Pierce was ejected in the third quarter of Indianas 103-86 win Monday. George Hill stole a bad pass and was going in for a layup, and Pierce hustled back and appeared to be trying to wrap him up.BARCELONA, Spain -- Ryan Cochrane had to claw his way to Canadas first podium finish in the pool at the 2013 FINA World Championships. The Victoria native won his third straight medal in the mens 800-metre freestyle Wednesday, charging down American Connor Jaeger on the final 100 metres to win the bronze medal in seven minutes 43.70 seconds. The 24-year-old won silver in the event at the 2011 worlds in Shanghai, and bronze in 2009 in Rome. Chinas Sun Yang took the gold in 7:41.36. Cochrane, who came an agonizing fourth in the 400-metre freestyle Sunday, was edged by American Michael McBroom by 0.1 seconds for silver. "The touches arent my friend this meet," Cochrane said. "It was hard getting fourth place. Its a frustrating place to be but with a world championships anything can happen. Theres so many great competitors that in this 800 I think anybody had a chance at the podium. "To know I could claw my way back onto the podium is great and we have the 1,500 to look forward to after this." Randy Bennett, head coach of the national team and Cochranes coach at the Victoria Academy of Swimming, characterized the race as "interesting." "Five guys in it all the way and its not that normal in the distance freestyle," Bennett said. "Its usually a two- or three-horse race but it was interesting -- he could have been fifth. "Its great racing for him to get his hand on the wall in the third place position and be aware that he had to go in the last 100 as hard as he did, so well take the medal and run with it but you always want a little bit more." The medal is Canadas fifth overall at the championships, and second in swimming. Victorias Eric Hedlin won a silver medal in the 5-km open water race earlier in the two-week event, which also features water polo, diving, synchronized swimming and a new high diving discipline. Also Wednesday, American Missy Franklin held off a late challenge from Federica Pelligrini to win the 200-metre freestyle. The win came after Franklin pulled of the 50-metre backstroke, ending a possible bid for eight gold medals at a single major event. She also has gold medals here from the 4x100 free relay and the 100 backstroke. The 18-year-old entered eight events, giving her a chance to match Michael Phelps as the only swimmmers to win that many events at a major championship.dddddddddddd But, after a tough double on Tuesday and a lacklustre showing in the morning preliminaries, Franklin and her coach, Todd Schmitz, decided to scratch the 50 backstroke -- a non-Olympic event that she swims mainly for fun, though she did take bronze at the 2011 worlds in Shanghai. There was only a 20-minute break between the semifinals of the 50 back and the final of the 200 free, and the latter was much more important to Franklin. She just missed a medal in that event at the London Olympics, losing out for third by a hundredth of a second. "We decided that maybe the risk kind of outdid the rewards," Franklin said. "So we decided not to do it. It was fun to swim it this morning but Im really happy with the decision to scratch and just do this." Frances Camille Muffat went out hard, leading after the first lap and 0.75 under the world-record pace. But Franklin edged ahead at the midway point and held off hard-charging Federica Pelligrini of the Italy, the world-record holder, to win in 1 minute, 54.81 seconds. Pelligrini claimed silver, 0.33 behind the winner, while Muffat settled for the bronze. The worlds continue through Sunday. Cochrane is back in action in the 1,500-metre freestyle heats Saturday. He has back-to-back world championships silver medals in that event, along with the 2012 Olympic silver. "The field is getting faster and faster and I think one of the mistakes we made (in the 800) is playing into everybody elses race tactics," Cochrane said. "Seeing that the field was so even shows we were all trying hard but maybe not executing the race plans we wanted to. In the 1,500 you can have front-end speed, back-end speed, people who have different technical sides." Three other Canadians had evening swims Wednesday. Audrey Lacroix and Katerine Savard of Pont-Rouge, Que. both competed in the womens 200-metre butterfly semifinals. Lacroix narrowly missed qualifying for the final and finished 10th. Savard finished 15th. Sinead Russell of Burlington, Ont., finished 14th in the 50-metre backstroke semifinals. Earlier in the day, Calgarys Joel Greenshields finished 38th in the 100-metre freestyle and Andrew Ford of Guelph, Ont., finished 23rd in the 200-metre individual medley. ' ' '