Aug. 24, 2012
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GREEN BAY, Wis. - A wild season-opening match went Auburn's way as the Tiger volleyball team rallied from an early deficit to claim a 3-2 victory (17-25, 25-16, 30-28, 16-25, 15-9) Friday afternoon over Central Michigan in the opening match of the Green Bay/Country Inn & Suites Tournament.
The Tigers (1-0) were bested in nearly every statistical category but were able to take advantage of several critical errors by the Chippewas (0-1), a 2011 NCAA Tournament participant and the defending Mid-American Conference Champions, in the second and fifth sets to claim the victory. It was Auburn's seventh win in its last nine season-opening matches.
"They're a very difficult team (to prepare for)," Auburn head coach Rick Nold said. "We knew coming in about the experience they had from last year, going to the NCAA Tournament, and we knew they were going to be a tough team to play. I was really happy with the way we responded. They got us down a few times, but we came back and kept playing aggressively."
Auburn was able to spread its offense around as six players had at least five kills in the match. Redshirt junior Katherine Culwell, in her first match back after missing the entire 2011 season with an injury, led the Auburn offense with 11 kills. She also contributed a pair of service aces, five digs and two blocks on the night.
Senior Sarah Bullock and junior Camila Jersonsky had nine kills apiece while junior Courtney McDonald added eight, junior Brittney Rhude had seven and junior Chloe Rowand had five. McDonald also added a team-high five blocks. Junior libero Sarah Wroblicky led the Tigers defensively with 22 digs.
Freshman Ciara Richards made her presence felt immediately as she led the team with 23 assists and barely missed a double-double in her first collegiate match with nine digs. But perhaps her biggest contribution came in the form of four service aces, the most by an Auburn individual since Liz Crouch had five against Troy on Aug. 27, 2010.
"She did a really good job serving," Nold said. "She's putting pressure on the other team, keeping them out of system. You look at a first (collegiate) match for somebody, there's a lot going on in their head, and I thought she did a good job controlling all that."
Central Michigan took the first set, 25-17, as the Chippewas out-hit the Tigers by a .448 to .167 margin. CMU did not commit a hitting error throughout the set and also took advantage of six attack errors and four service errors by Auburn. The Tigers would keep it as close as two points at 10-8, but CMU would pull ahead to a 15-10 lead. Two straight aces from Richards made it a 15-13 game, but the Chippewas would go on a 5-2 run, punctuated by a service ace of their own, to make it 20-15. From there, an Auburn service error and two attack errors would give CMU the winning margin.
Auburn would turn the tables in the second set, pulling out a 26-15 win to even the match at a set apiece. The Tigers took their first lead at 2-1 and never looked back, pulling away early to take a 12-7 lead and force a Chippewas timeout. Three straight CMU points would make it 12-10, but the Tigers would roll off a 10-3 run to all but put the set out of reach at 22-13. Auburn would hit .414 in the set compared to Central Michigan's .065 as CMU committed eight hitting errors against Auburn's two.
The third set was a wild, back-and-forth affair that ultimately went Auburn's way, 30-28. The Tigers jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead and never trailed in the set until, at 24-22, Central Michigan fought off two Auburn set point chances and then had one of their own after a Tiger error. A kill from McDonald brought the score back even at 25-25, and a CMU error gave Auburn another set point chance at 26-25. But Central Michigan would fight off that attempt and two more, eventually knotting the score at 28-28. Freshman Mary Hannah Arrington, who had just entered the game, would get her first collegiate kill at the most opportune time, giving Auburn another set point chance at 29-28. This time, an attack attempt from CMU would go long, and the Tigers would take the set and a 2-1 lead in the match.
"The key to us being the team we want to be - and we talked about this after the match - is that we stay mentally strong and keep fighting in those situations," Nold said.
Set four was almost a carbon copy of the first as the Chippewas out-hit Auburn .480 to .032 en route to a 25-16 win, knotting the score at two sets apiece. The Tigers were never quite able to get in sync as CMU jumped out to a 10-4 lead and never looked back; Auburn would get no closer than five points the rest of the way.
However, the Tigers came out firing in the fifth set. Auburn jumped to a 5-0 lead, forcing two Central Michigan timeouts, but the Chippewas came back with a vengeance, knotting the score at 6-6 on two straight aces and a pair of kills. Auburn would score two straight to take an 8-6 lead as the teams changed ends, but CMU would then get two straight to tie things up once again at 8-8. From there, though, the Chippewas would hand Auburn three straight points on two attack errors and a bad set to give the Tigers an 11-8 lead. CMU would get one more kill to pull within two points at 11-9, but Auburn would score the final four points, getting an ace from Richards and a kill from Rhude to put it away.
Central Michigan was led by Angelique White with 14 kills. Jenna Coates had 34 digs, and Kelly Maxwell had 46 assists.
Auburn will play two matches Saturday to wrap up the Green Bay /Country Inn & Suites Tournament. The Tigers will face Drake at 10 a.m. and then conclude the weekend with a 7 p.m. match against host UW-Green Bay. Fans can follow @AUVolleyball on Twitter for updates throughout the day, and live stats and live video are available at GreenBayPhoenix.com.