Oct. 12, 2012
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ATHENS, Ga. - Auburn's volleyball team fell on the road Friday night, dropping a 3-0 decision to Georgia (19-25, 21-25, 19-25) at the Ramsey Student Center.
The Tigers (13-5, 4-4 SEC) fell to 1-4 on the road in Southeastern Conference play as Georgia (10-7, 4-4 SEC) had 42 kills against just 14 errors for a .292 hitting percentage, the highest by an Auburn opponent this season.
The Bulldogs had 42 kills to Auburn's 34, but Auburn won the digs battle 39-32. The Tigers struggled to get their block going as they had just four stuffs on the night. Auburn hit just .125 in the match with 23 errors on its 96 swings.
Katherine Culwell led Auburn with 11 kills, and Sarah Bullock finished with nine kills and 10 digs. Bullock surpassed the 1,100-kill plateau in tonight's match, moving into ninth place all-time in career kills at Auburn. Camila Jersonsky added six kills and a pair of blocks, and Chloe Rowand hit at a .500 clip with four kills on an error-free eight swings. Chelsea Wintzinger recorded her eighth double-double of the season with 15 assists and 10 digs.
Georgia was led by Elena Perri who hit .643 with nine kills and no errors on 14 attacks. Brittany Northcutt and Briana Bahr had seven kills apiece, and libero Allison Summers had a match-high 11 digs.
Georgia rode a 7-1 run midway through the first set to take the opening frame, 25-19. The Tigers took an early 8-6 lead, but Georgia took the lead at 10-9 after a pair of Auburn errors. From there, the Bulldogs scored seven of the next eight points to extend their lead to 18-11 and never looked back as Auburn would get no closer than four points the rest of the way.
Two runs defined the second set for both teams. The Tigers went on a 7-1 run midway through the second set to take a 19-16 lead, but Georgia closed on a 9-2 run of its own to win the second set, 25-21. At one point, Auburn was out-hitting the Bulldogs by a wide margin, but the Tigers had three attack errors in the final four rallies after the set was tied at 21-all. The Tigers actually had more kills than Georgia in the second set (15-13) but committed nine errors to the Bulldogs' five.
The Bulldogs jumped out early in the third set and held a commanding lead most of the way. Auburn managed to fight off five match point attempts after trailing 24-14, but Georgia took advantage of Auburn's fifth ball-handling error of the match to end the match with a 25-19 win in set three.
Auburn will now travel to Gainesville, Fla., where the Tigers will face 11th-ranked Florida at 12:30 p.m. CT Sunday. Sun Sports will carry a regional television broadcast of the match with Larry Vettel and Missy Whittemore calling the action. Live audio will also be available at AuburnTigers.com.