Sept. 19, 2014
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AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn volleyball team made quick work of Florida A&M Friday night to open the War Eagle Invitational at Auburn Arena, sweeping the Rattlers, 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-20).
The Tigers (6-5) started off strong offensively, posting 16 kills in the opening frame to jump out early against Florida A&M (0-10). Auburn dominated almost every statistical category, leading in kills (45-30), digs (59-52), assists (40-25), service aces (8-2) and out-hit the Rattlers (.248-.147) in the match.
"I think we made some adjustments defensively tonight and we began to take care of a lot of their shots, especially late in the match that (Florida A&M) was hurting us with," head coach Rick Nold said. "We kept them off-balance with our serve. For us to be successful, we have to keep attacking and serving is the first part of that. "
Emily Klitzke got back on track for the Tigers on the outside, leading the way with 12 kills. Stephanie Campbell added in 11 kills on 18 attempts to hit a team-high .444. Both players tied for a team-high with three blocks in the win.
Courtney Crable also chipped in nine kills for Auburn, while Breanna Barksdale posted six along with a pair of blocks.
"Emily has struggled of late, but the thing we talked about and we saw this late was that she had some out-of-system balls that she really approached aggressively," Nold said. "We want to see all our players be aggressive because when we do that we're not making the easy error."
Alexa Filley recorded her fifth double-double in 11 matches, finishing with 31 assists and 15 digs. The freshman also recorded a pair of aces from the service line for the Tigers. Alyssa Ivey led the team with a match-high 17 digs in the win. Taylor Schill also logged double-digit digs for the second straight game, finishing with 11.
Auburn dominated the pace of play in the first set, using a balanced attack to hit. 433 with 15 kills and just two errors to jump out in front.
The Tigers continued with their strong blocking up front in the second set, posting four in the frame. Auburn added in a pair of aces from the service line and Klitzke caught fire for the Tigers offensively, recording a team-high six kills in the set to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room.
"Serving-wise we got them out of the system early. We had more aces than errors tonight and that hasn't happened for us in a while. We have to stay aggressive and I think our last two matches we've done a good job of that."
The third set saw 10 ties and five leads changes, but it was Auburn who took control late getting five kills in a row to close the match. Tied at 17-17 late in the frame, Klitzke delivered four kills out of Florida A&M that would eventually put Auburn up 22-20. From there, Crable posted back-to-back kills before Campbell finished the match in the middle of the floor with her 12th of the night.
Auburn will play a pair of matches Saturday to conclude its final non-conference tournament of the year. The Tigers take on in-state foe Jacksonville State at noon, before finishing the day with Northwestern State at 7:30 p.m. Admission to both matches is free and each contest will be broadcasted on the SEC Network +.
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