Sept. 23, 2011
AUBURN - The Auburn volleyball team played what Head Coach Rick Nold called their best match of the season, defeating archrival Alabama 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-23) Friday night before a capacity crowd of 1,037 fans at the Student Activities Center.
"This is the best we've come out and played," Nold said. "We played with a lot of energy from the beginning; I think the crowd played a big part in that. It's been a long road trip that we had, and coming back in and having everybody support us, it's a big help."
Auburn (7-6, 1-2 SEC) recorded 50 kills in the match - a season-high in a three-set match - and hit at a .381 clip, the team's second-best mark of the season, to win their fourth-straight over the Crimson Tide. Alabama (6-7, 0-3 SEC) lost a three-set match for just the first time this season.
In addition, the over-capacity crowd of 1,037 was the third-largest crowd in Auburn volleyball history.
A key component to the Tigers' win was vast improvement in the service game. Auburn recorded a season-high six service aces and only allowed one by Alabama; in addition, the passing was much improved as the Tide had very few easy scoring chances.
"(Serve and receive) is all we've talked about for a few weeks now," Nold said. "In game one I don't think we served that great, but we stayed aggressive. Then we came back and put some pressure on them in games two and three. I think that's the key to the game."
Three Tigers recorded double-digit kills, led by senior Kelly Fidero. She recorded 14 kills on the night, matching her season high for the second straight week; she also had 14 at Tennessee last Sunday. Fidero also hit a season-best .522, charged with just two errors on 23 attacks.
Junior Sarah Bullock recorded her second double-double of the season, putting down 10 kills and registering a season-high 13 digs. Vesela Zapryanova had her second double-digit kills game of the year with 11 on the night, hitting at a .455 clip. Camila Jersonsky and Chelsea Wintzinger both hit .417 on the night with Wintzinger dropping a career-high six kills on 12 attacks. Wintzinger also had a career-high 35 assists while serving up two of the Tigers' aces; Jersonsky and Bullock also had two apiece.
"They were hitting smart shots," Nold said. "They weren't always going after the big kill. If there were some openings, they were finding the open spots to place the ball. As a good hitter, you have to have some flexibility; you can't always be just scoring one way."
The first set was very tightly contested with nine ties and a pair of lead changes. However, Auburn was able to maintain a slim lead most of the way despite four service errors in the opening frame. But the Tigers managed to jump to a 15-11 lead before Alabama closed the gap to one point at 19-18. Back-to-back service errors kept things close, and Alabama finally took the lead at 22-21 off a kill from Kayla Fitterer, forcing an Auburn timeout. From there, a kill from Bullock and two from Fidero would put the Tide away, giving Auburn a 25-22 first-set win; Auburn hit a stellar .424 in the frame while Alabama was equally impressive at .391.
Auburn stormed to a 4-0 lead in the second set and never looked back en route to a 25-13 win. Alabama would get as close as 7-6, but the Tigers would roll off a 9-1 run to take a 16-7 lead. The Tide would be no closer than eight points the rest of the way as six kills from Zapryanova and four each from Fidero and Bullock led the way. Bullock also had a pair of service aces in the set, along with one each from Wintzinger and Jersonsky.
Set number three was mostly controlled by the Tigers as they took a 25-23 win, but they had to fight hard to pull it out. The Tigers led by as many as four at 13-9, but Alabama's Fitterer almost single-handedly willed the Tide back into the set with seven kills; as such, the Tide took a 21-19 lead and forced a Tiger timeout. A kill from Jersonsky would pull things even at 22-22, but the lead would go right back to Alabama on a service error. Jersonsky, though, would come up big again, with two straight kills to give Auburn match point at 24-23, forcing Alabama to call its final timeout. The Buenos Aires native would make it three in a row with another kill as she scored Auburn's last four points to close out the match.
Auburn will play the second of its four straight home matches Sunday afternoon as SEC Western Division rival Ole Miss comes calling. First serve is set for 1:30 p.m. at the Student Activities Center, and admission is free.