Aug. 31, 2012
AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn volleyball team stayed unbeaten on the young season, opening the home portion of the schedule with a 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 25-19, 28-26) victory over Georgia Southern on Friday morning to kick off the War Eagle Invitational at the Student Activities Center.
Auburn (4-0) struggled at times during the match but was able to outlast Georgia Southern (2-2) with tough blocking and improved hitting in the last two sets. Despite that, the Eagles outperformed Auburn in kills (59-52), assists (52-47), and digs (93-75), but the Tigers recorded 11 blocks to GSU's five and out-hit the Eagles .167 to .148.
Junior Camila Jersonsky led the Tigers with 12 kills, taking team honors for the second straight match. She also recorded four blocks, matching Courtney McDonald and Halle Kearney for the team lead. Three players contributed nine kills apiece with Sarah Bullock (16 digs) and Katherine Culwell (10 digs) barely missing double-doubles.
Both Auburn setters earned double-doubles with junior Chelsea Wintzinger notching 19 assists and 11 digs and freshman Ciara Richards posting 22 assists with 11 digs. Junior libero Sarah Wroblicky was the fifth different Auburn player with 10+ digs, posting 14 on the day.
Neither team hit well in the first set with both teams below the .100 mark, but Georgia Southern had one more kill than the Tigers and withstood 10 ties and five lead changes for a 25-23 win. Auburn jumped out to a 10-6 lead early, but the Eagles went on a 11-5 run to force an Auburn timeout at 17-15. From there, the teams traded leads twice more before GSU benefitted from an Auburn service error at 23-23, then won the set on Auburn's eight attack error of the game.
The second set was more of the same; however, the Tigers managed to come out on top with a 25-23 win of their own. This set saw 11 ties and seven lead changes as neither team led by more than two points the entire set. After the score was knotted at 20-20, a block from McDonald and Culwell and an service ace from Bullock gave Auburn a two-point advantage, and Auburn would cling to that margin and tie the match at a set apiece.
Auburn jumped out to an early lead in the third set and never looked back, out-hitting GSU .152 to .050 to take a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-19 second-set win. The Tigers benefitted from nine attack errors and five service errors from the Eagles.
Set four was another back-and-forth affair with 19 ties and seven lead changes. Georgia Southern had a three-point lead at 18-15, then had two set point chances at 24-22. But kills from Culwell and Jersonsky tied it up at 24-all, and a GSU attack error gave Auburn its first match-point chance of the day. The Eagles, however, would fight off two match point attempts before Auburn finally got back-to-back kills from Bullock to put the match away.
Earlier in the day, High Point outlasted Jacksonville State, 3-2, in the opening match of the tournament.
The War Eagle Invitational continues Friday evening with Jacksonville State facing Georgia Southern at 5 p.m., followed by the Tigers playing host to High Point at 7 p.m. Live video of Auburn's match and live stats for both matches are available at AuburnTigers.com.