Nov. 12, 2014
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The Auburn volleyball team could not overcome a strong offensive attack from No. 7 Florida as the Tigers fell 3-0 (14-25, 21-25, 10-25), at the O'Connell Center Wednesday.
"It was going to be key for us to put pressure on [Florida] and for most of the match we struggled serving," head coach Rick Nold said. "During game two, we were much more consistent and able to get them out-of-system. Bottom line is that we didn't compete long enough or hard enough."
Courtney Crable recorded a team-high six kills on 16 swings, while Breanna Barksdale and Alexa Filley posted five. Filley, Auburn's setter, hit .714 on seven attempts and collected 13 assists. She is now just 36 assists shy of breaking the Auburn single-season record.
Both teams struggled at the service line throughout the match as Auburn (11-15, 3-10 SEC) and Florida (20-3, 14-0 SEC) finished with double-digit service errors. The Tigers had 13 in the loss, while the Gators combated its 10 service errors with five aces.
Florida's defense held the Tigers to a season-low 24 kills and 21 assists, as Auburn hit just .133 in the match. The Gators hit .522 in the match with 42 kills, as Alex Holston led all players with 11 kills, while Rhamat Alhassan and Ziva Recek finished with nine and hitting percentage's that were over .600.
Auburn shrugged off a slow start in the opening stanza to battle the Gators tough in the second set. Despite Florida hitting .520 in the second frame, Auburn kept the game within reach to the very end as Barksdale posted four kills for the Tigers.
The Tigers continue their SEC road swing in Columbia, S.C., against South Carolina at 12:30 p.m. CT on Sunday. The match can be seen on the SEC Network +.
For the latest updates on Auburn Volleyball, follow the Tigers on Twitter, @AuburnVB or like Auburn Volleyball on Facebook.