Sept. 5, 2008
MACON, Ga. - After picking up the first win of the season in the morning match, the Auburn volleyball team (2-4) returned in the afternoon to earn its second victory of the season, taking down Presbyterian (0-4) in a 3-0 sweep (25-16, 25-22, 25-15).
Freshmen Kelly Fidero and Olympia Haney led the team with eight kills each in the match; Haney was the most efficient as she finished with only one error for a .467 attack percentage.
The story for Auburn, though, came on the setting and defensive end. The Tigers posted nine service aces in the win, led by four from setter Sara Shanks, while also posting seven team blocks. Shanks and Jonelle Wallace had two blocks each in the match for Auburn.
"We played better, we had more attention to detail, consistency and intensity," said head coach Wade Benson. "We only had a total of 19 errors in the match, our goal is six per set so we came close to that. We had two service errors, nine aces and most-importantly, no ball handling errors. We are cleaning up ball handling and that is a big deal for us."
Defensively for Auburn, the Tigers were led by sophomore libero Liz Crouch with a match-high 15 digs, followed by Jessica Glover with nine.
Lisa Shelley led the Blue Hose in the match with nine kills while Hayley Thurmond posted a team-high 10 digs.
Auburn returns to action at 12 p.m. CT on Saturday against Georgia Southern in its final match of the Bear Brawl.
Auburn came out on fire in the first set, hitting .370 with 12 kills and only two errors for a 25-16 win. Glover and Fidero led the Tigers with three kills each in the set while Crouch tallied eight of Auburn's 12 digs.
Presbyterian took the lead out of the gate, picking up a 2-0 lead, but Auburn retaliated with an 11-3 run to take the lead for good in the set. The Blue Hose would cut the lead to three at the 14-11 mark, but that was as close as they would come to taking away the Auburn lead.
The Tigers' hitting cooled off in the second set, dropping to a .088, but Auburn was able to capitalize on five service aces, including two at the beginning of the set from Shanks to give AU the lead. Presbyterian then took the lead at 3-2 and led until the 10-9 point of the set when the Tigers took over for good for a 25-22 win.
Three of the five aces came from Shanks while the other two came from Wallace. Fidero led Auburn with four kills in the set.
Auburn bounced back into shape in the third set, scoring the first three points, leading to a 15-2 lead. The Tigers eventually won the set, 25-15. Haney was near perfect for Auburn, leading the team with four kills on five attempts with no errors.