Nov. 27, 2013
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ATHENS, Ga. - The 2013 regular season came to a close for Auburn volleyball Wednesday afternoon with a 3-1 loss at Georgia (25-20, 16-25, 22-25, 17-25) at the Ramsey Student Center.
For the Tigers (19-11, 10-8 SEC), the chance for a 20-win season and tying the school record for conference wins fell just out of reach as a relentless Georgia team (21-9, 11-7 SEC) bounced back in a big way after Auburn took the first set.
"It's a disappointing finish," Auburn head coach Rick Nold said. "As in most matches, it came down to first contact. We were streaky in terms of taking them out of system. We didn't pass as well as we're capable. When that starts, we are always fighting from behind. They've got a balanced team, they were playing aggressively and playing for good situations."
"Obviously you want to finish with a win, but when we're able to look back, we can be proud of the way we finished the season," Nold said. "We started off 0-4 in conference. But we fought back and finished 10-4 from that point. That shows a lot of character and a lot about what we've seen every day with this team."
Despite the loss, senior Katherine Culwell hit another milestone in the match. After recording her 1,000th career kill in Sunday's win over Ole Miss, she joined the 1,000-dig club with her 12th dig of today's match, making her the sixth player in Auburn history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs. Culwell finished the match with 17 digs along with seven kills.
Offensively, the Tigers got production from a mixture of rookies and veterans. Senior Camila Jersonsky led the mway with 13 kills and a .385 hitting percentage on the day, while senior Kathia Rud and freshman Emily Klitzke added 11 kills apiece. Freshman Stephanie Campbell stepped up with 10 kills as well.
Rud picked up her 10th double-double of the year with 11 digs along with her 11 kills. Sarah Wroblicky had 12 digs in her final collegiate regular-season match, and Courtney McDonald added four kills as well.
Georgia got huge production from Tirah Le'au, especially in the third set, as she finished with 13 kills and a pair of service aces that closed out a 5-0 Georgia run to end the first set. Brittany Northcutt had 12 kills and 10 digs, and Stacey Smith and Jasmine Eatmon finished with 11 kills each. Elena Perri was in on eight of the Bulldogs' nine blocks on the day.
The Bulldogs outhit Auburn .352 to .236 and had nine blocks to the Tigers' two. Despite 10 service errors, the Bulldogs' aggressiveness in the service game led to five aces while the Tigers had none. Auburn did have more digs than Georgia (64-60).
With the regular season concluded, the Tigers will await the announcement of the NCAA Tournament bracket as several SEC teams are in the mix for an at-large bid along with league champion Missouri. The NCAA Championship Selection Show is set for 8:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 1, and will air live on ESPNU.
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