Oct. 12, 2007
AUBURN - Jelena Sekulic posted her second 20-kill match in a row, but it was not enough as visiting Alabama downed Auburn 3-1 (24-30, 25-30, 30-23, 22-30) Friday at the Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.
Auburn falls to 10-10, 2-7 SEC and hits the road for a 1:30 p.m., Sunday match at Mississippi State. MSU (7-11, 2-7 SEC) beat Georgia 3-1 in its Friday match. Alabama improves to 9-9, 6-3 SEC.
Despite the loss, Auburn head coach Laura Farina was pleased with the performance and progression of her team.
"I thought it was one of our best matches that we've played this season, even though we didn't come out with the win," said Farina. "We're starting to see some application from practice into competition and that is very encouraging."
The Tigers hung with the Crimson Tide throughout most of the four games, taking their first win in game three. As a team, Auburn hit .227 and was led by Sekulic with her .405 attack percentage.
"Overall, I thought we played a really good match tonight; they just had a little bit more offensive power than we had in the end," added Farina.
Three Tigers finished with double-doubles and four different players tallied double-digit kills in the match. Sekulic led the way with her 20 kills and 15 digs, followed closely by Rachel Shanks (16 kills, 20 digs).
Jessica Glover came in with 13 kills and 17 digs while Whitney Jacob finished with 10 kills. Jacob also led the team with four blocks in the match.
Defensively, freshman Liz Crouch tied Auburn's season-best with 22 digs. Along with Shanks' 20 digs, it marks the first time this season that two Auburn players have posted 20 or more digs in the same match.