Sept. 11, 2015
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Breanna Barksdale matched a career-high with 14 kills to lead the Auburn volleyball to a 3-0 sweep at Memphis (25-23, 25-22, 25-12) Friday night at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse.
Auburn (6-2) picked up its second sweep of the season and its first true road victory over Memphis (5-3), who kept the match very competitive throughout the first two sets with a loud home crowd of 951 fans.
"Memphis was a tough opponent," Auburn head coach Rick Nold said. "I thought we did a good job of playing a little simpler defense to give us some opportunities to push a little faster tempo. Bre did a really good job taking advantage of that. To be the leading attempt-getter as a middle is pretty significant."
Barksdale's 14 kills led all hitters in the match, and her 27 attempts and .407 hitting percentage were team-highs as well. The Tigers ran most of their offense through the middle of the floor as Barksdale and fellow middle Emily Klitzke (7 kills) combined for 21 of Auburn's 40 kills on the night. Courtney Crable followed up a big performance against Little Rock earlier in the day with a 9-kill, .318-hitting performance against Memphis.
Auburn hit .281 for the match, their second-best percentage of the season, with just 13 attack errors for the match. The service game came up big again as Auburn recorded seven service aces; two apiece from Brenna McIlroy, Jesse Earl and Alyssa Ivey.
Alexa Filley finished with 36 assists and six digs, picking up her 1,500th career assist during the first set. Earl was Auburn's defensive leader with 13 digs.
Auburn led most of the way in the first set, but Memphis battled back on several occasions and tied the game as late as 23-all. But a big swing from Klitzke and an ace from Earl closed out the opening frame with a 25-23 win. Set two looked to be an Auburn runaway early with the Tigers jumping out to a 7-1 lead and maintaining that advantage for most of the way, but a late Memphis rally cut the score to 23-21. However, Crable would crush two straight shots to close out the set and give Auburn a 2-0 lead.
Set three was all Auburn as the Tigers rolled to a 25-12 win. Auburn hit .409 with 10 kills and just one error in the closing frame.
Auburn wraps up the Memphis Invitational at 4 p.m. Saturday with a match against Tennessee Tech.
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