Aug. 25, 2012
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GREEN BAY, Wis. - The Auburn volleyball team made quick work of Drake on Saturday morning, sweeping the Bulldogs 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-19) at the Kress Events Center in the Tigers' second match of the Green Bay/Country Inn & Suites Tournament.
Auburn (2-0) took advantage of a poor-hitting Drake squad (0-2) as the Bulldogs hit just .045 in the match, compared to Auburn's .267 mark. The Tigers had 43 kills to Drake's 30 and out-dug the Bulldogs 51-42.
Junior Katherine Culwell earned Auburn's first double-double of the season with 10 kills and 12 digs; she also contributed three blocks and an assist to the winning effort. Senior Sarah Bullock matched Culwell with 10 kills and fell just shy of a double-double with eight digs. Bullock also had a team-best three service aces - all coming in a four-point stretch in the third set - matching a career-high.
Chelsea Wintzinger led the Tiger setters with 25 assists; she also had eight digs and a kill. Camila Jersonsky contributed six kills and five blocks, and Chloe Rowand had eight kills.
The first set was all Auburn as the Tigers sprinted to a 25-16 win. Auburn led 10-3 after six straight attack errors from the Bulldogs and never looked back as Drake would get no closer than five points the rest of the way. Auburn out-hit Drake in the set .353 to .000 as the Bulldogs had nine kills and nine errors; Auburn recorded 14 kills against just two errors.
Auburn pushed their lead to 2-0 with a 25-21 win in set two despite hitting just .179 with seven errors. The Tigers never trailed, jumping out to a 14-9 lead, but Drake would get as close as two points at 16-14 to force an Auburn timeout. From there, though, Auburn would roll off four straight points, courtesy of three straight Drake errors, to make it 20-14. Drake would fight off three set point attempts, but a kill from Rowand would finally put the set away at 25-21.
After Drake jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third set, Auburn ran off eight straight points - led by three aces from Bullock - and never looked back en route to a 25-19 win to clinch the match. Drake once again made things interesting, pulling within three points at 18-15, but five kills in six rallies - two from Bullock and one each from Kearney, Culwell and McDonald - gave Auburn a 23-16 lead. Two more kills from Bullock and Jersonsky put the Bulldogs away for good.
The Tigers will wrap up their stay at the Green Bay/Country Inn & Suites Tournament later tonight as they face host UW-Green Bay at 7 p.m. Live stats and live video are available at GreenBayPhoenix.com, and @AUVolleyball on Twitter will have live updates during the match.