TROY, Ala. - Auburn's volleyball team kept up its winning ways on the road Tuesday night, picking up a 3-0 win over Troy (25-19, 25-21, 25-23) at Sartain Hall, equaling the best start to a season in school history.
The Tigers (7-0) have now won seven straight matches to open the season for just the second time in school history, matching a 7-0 start by the 1991 Tigers. Tonight also marked Auburn's eighth consecutive win, dating back to the final match of last season, and kept Auburn unbeaten all-time against Troy (3-4).
"It was a good, competitive match both ways," Auburn head coach Rick Nold said. "I thought they played great defense and served aggressively, which took us out of our offense. But we did a good job fighting back, pushing the middles a bit, and getting them out of system."
Senior Sarah Bullock picked up her second double-double of the season with a season-high 13 kills and 10 digs to lead the Auburn offensive attack. She also had 35 total attacks on the night, giving her 2,916 for her career and moving her into eighth all-time in total attacks in Auburn history. Junior Courtney McDonald matched her season-best with 12 kills, hitting at a .476 clip, and matched a career-high with five blocks on the night. Katherine Culwell recorded nine kills and three blocks, and Camila Jersonsky added eight kills.
Junior Chelsea Wintinzger also had a double-double, her fourth of the year, with a match-high 24 assists and 11 digs. Ciara Richards also added 20 assists, and Sarah Wroblicky had 18 digs.
The Tigers had 48 kills to Troy's 35 and out-hit the Trojans .220 to .118. It was the fifth time this season the Tigers held an opponent under .200 hitting. Auburn also won the digs battle, 60-54, and had eight total blocks to Troy's five.
Bullock had seven kills in the first set as the Tigers pulled away late for a 25-19 win. After jumping out to a quick 5-1 lead, Auburn saw Troy fight back and tie the score at 8-8 before Auburn went on a 10-4 run to make it 18-12. But four straight points from the Trojans cut Auburn's margin to just two. From there, though, three kills from Bullock would spur a 6-1 run and eventually put away the first set.
Set two saw the Auburn block get involved as the Tigers had four stuffs in a 25-21 win. McDonald was an offensive and defensive key for Auburn with three kills and three blocks in the set, and Jersonsky contributed four kills of her own. The Tigers jumped out to an early lead once again, this time taking a quick 6-1 advantage. While Auburn would never trail in the set, Troy would pull within three points at 14-11, forcing a Tiger timeout. Three straight kills from Jersonsky would extend the Auburn lead to 17-12, and kills from Bullock, Rowand, McDonald and Culwell would close out the set.
The third set was a much closer affair as Troy out-hit the Tigers .282 to .250 in the final game. Auburn finally gained a bit of breathing room after a kill from Culwell and a block from Jersonsky and Rowand to make it 13-8, but Troy clawed its way back to within a point at 14-13 when Auburn committed three straight errors. After an Auburn timeout, the Tigers rolled off three straight points to jump back ahead 17-13, but Troy would again fight back to tie the score at 19-19. Auburn would get kills from McDonald and Culwell to push the lead to 23-20, and kills from Jersonsky and Culwell finally put the Trojans away, 25-23.
Auburn will wrap up non-conference play this weekend in Dallas, Texas, at the SMU Doubletree Classic. The Tigers will face a pair of 2011 NCAA Tournament participants in Texas State and Wichita State on Friday afternoon before concluding the weekend against host SMU on Saturday.