Sept. 14, 2013
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Auburn volleyball earned its third straight sweep Saturday morning with a 3-0 (25-7, 25-18, 25-20) win over Loyola-Chicago in the Shamrock Invitational at Purcell Pavilion.
The Tigers (9-1) have now won 12 consecutive sets, dating back to the second set of a win over Troy last Friday. With the first-set score of 25-7, Auburn has also held an opponent to single-digits at least once in three straight matches, something that hasn't happened for a Tiger team since rally scoring began in 2000. Loyola fell to 5-4 on the year.
"I'm happy with how we played defensively," Auburn head coach Rick Nold said. "Loyola is an athletic team, and they can put a lot of pressure on you with their offense. We did a good job of really controlling our system and defending them the way we wanted to."
Auburn matched a season-high with nine blocks in the match. Freshman Stephanie Campbell was in on five of them, and senior Courtney McDonald contributed four block assists as well. Camila Jersonsky had a solo block and two block assists, Katherine Culwell had one of each, and Kathia Rud was in on a pair of blocks as well.
For the first time this season, Auburn did not win the digs battle but matched the Ramblers as each team had 46 digs. Sarah Wroblicky led the way with 13, and Culwell had 10 digs but missed her sixth double-double of the season by one kill; she finished with nine.
Offensively, Kia Bright led the Tigers with 11 kills and a .320 hitting percentage. Jersonsky contributed six kills, and Campbell had five. Campbell and Ciara Richards each had one service ace, and Chelsea Wintzinger turned in a 19-assists, seven-dig performance.
The Tigers hit .262 as a team in the match and held Loyola to an .028 mark, the second-lowest by an Auburn opponent this season. It took a push at the end of set three to get the Ramblers above the .000 mark. Auburn had 39 kills to Loyola's 27, and out-blocked the Ramblers 9-4.
Auburn will wrap up the weekend at 6:30 p.m. Saturday as they face tournament host Notre Dame in the final match of the 2013 Shamrock Invitational. Live stats and live audio will be available at AuburnTigers.com.