Nov. 23, 2008
AUBURN - The Auburn volleyball team (6-25, 1-19 SEC) showed a relentless attack down to the final point of the season, but was unable to deliver the decisive attack in the fifth set, falling to Tennessee (21-9, 14-5 SEC) 3-2 (25-23, 11-25, 19-25, 25-20, 14-16) Sunday afternoon in the Student Activities Center.
The loss marks the end of the 2008 season for the Tigers and also for senior Jessica Glover. Glover logged a double-double in her final Auburn volleyball match with 20 kills, hitting .317, adding 11 digs.
"This was a great example of SEC volleyball," assistant coach Chris Campbell said. "It was competitive and it went back and forth; with neither team rolling over. Both teams at different parts of the match had momentum and in each case the other team fought back to take it away. I thought our girls did a great job executing at critical times, we just couldn't quite get it done in the fifth set."
Auburn stormed out in the first set and held off the Lady Vols down the stretch to take a 25-23 win. The Tigers ran out to a 7-1 lead on Tennessee errors, kills from Jonelle Wallace and Jessica Glover and an ace from Sara Shanks. Behind the serving of Chloe Goldman, Tennessee tied the game up at 13-13. The set was a back-and-forth battle with both teams exchanging points until the end of the set.
Tennessee avenged the first set loss with a 25-11 second-set victory. The Lady Vols registered a .481 attack percentage and held Auburn to .057. Michaela Hanakova served Tennessee to seven-straight points and a 17-7 lead. Kylie Marshall and Milan Clarke led the way during the Lady Vol charge, recording six kills each.
The fourth set saw the Tigers and Lady Vols stay within a single point of each other. Auburn did not surrender a lead throughout the entire set. The Tigers held a 23-19 advantage following a Tennessee service error and a key block from Kelly Fidero and Glover. Glover closed out the set with a kill for a 25-20 win.
True to the four previous sets, the deciding set was neck and neck. Neither team was able to maintain the ball for more than two possessions, but Tennessee edged out the Tigers, 16-14 to win the match.
Liz Crouch led the Tigers defensively with 15 digs. All three of Auburn's aces on the afternoon came by way of Sara Shanks. Shanks also dished out 44 assists as the Tigers had a .152 attack percentage. Kelly Fidero was the only other Auburn player to log double-digit kills with 14.
Nikki Folwer provided the Lady Vols with 16 kills to lead their offensive attack aided with 21 and 27 assists from Kelsey Mahoney and Hanakova, respectively, en route to hitting .309. Kylie Marshall had 14 digs for the Tennessee defense.