Oct. 28, 2011
OXFORD, Miss. - Auburn's volleyball team dropped a tough four-setter on the road Friday night, falling to Ole Miss 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 23-25, 19-25) at the Gillom Sports Center.
The Tigers (9-14, 3-10 SEC) fell for the seventh straight match in SEC play while Ole Miss (7-14, 3-10 SEC) won its second in a row, avenging a loss to the Tigers from earlier in the season.
Senior Kelly Fidero led Auburn with 12 kills and hit for a .345 percentage, while Camila Jersonsky hit .364 with 10 kills. Sarah Bullock recorded her eighth double-double of the season with 10 kills and 16 digs. Sarah Wroblicky led the Tigers with 21 digs, and Chelsea Wintzinger had 44 assists. Jersonsky and Courtney McDonald recorded three blocks apiece.
The Tigers hit just .160 in the match to the Rebels' .235; the teams were even with 54 kills apiece, but Auburn had 29 errors to Ole Miss' 19. Auburn won the digs battle 70-64, but Ole Miss had 10 blocks to the Tigers' eight.
Both teams struggled offensively in the first set with Auburn hitting just .122 and Ole Miss at .094. Ole Miss jumped out to a 9-6 lead, but Auburn would go on a 6-0 run to move ahead 12-9 and force a Rebel timeout. But the Rebels would fight back with a run of their own to pull within a point at 15-14, forcing an Auburn timeout. Auburn would never trail from that point, but the Rebels would keep things interesting. After the Tigers made it 23-19, a pair of Auburn errors got the Rebels back in it at 23-21. But kills from Bullock and McDonald put the game away, giving Auburn a 25-23 win.
In a reversal of the first set, it was Auburn jumping out to an early lead in the second only to see Ole Miss go on a 9-3 run to take the lead. A kill and a block from Jersonsky pulled Auburn within a point at 12-11, but Ole Miss scored three straight to force a Tiger timeout. From there, the Rebels pulled away and looked to be on the way to an easy win. But after a controversial play gave Ole Miss set point at 24-18, the Tigers scored four in a row to keep the game alive at 24-22. A lengthy rally, however, would go the Rebels' way and give them a 25-22 set two win, squaring the match at a set apiece.
Set three saw Auburn take a 13-11 lead, but Ole Miss would go on a 6-0 run to take a 17-13 lead. The Rebels would then have four tries at set point with a 24-20 lead; however, Auburn would fight off three in a row to get within a point at 24-23. Ole Miss would then block an attempt in the middle to win the frame, 25-23.
The fourth set saw Ole Miss jump out early and never trail as they rolled to a 25-19 win. Auburn hit .216 in the set, its second-best hitting percentage of the night, but the Rebels were outstanding at .395 with just one error. After Auburn pulled within a point at 11-10, the Rebels went on a 5-0 run and never saw their lead shrink to less than four points the rest of the way.
The Tigers will wrap up their road weekend Sunday afternoon with a showdown against archrival Alabama. First serve is set for 1:30 p.m. at Foster Auditorium in Tuscaloosa.