Sept. 30, 2015
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HighlightsAUBURN, Ala. - Freshman Brenna McIlroy had a match-high 15 kills, but Auburn couldn't overcome a fierce Texas A&M attack in a 3-0 loss (14-25, 17-25, 21-25) to the Aggies Wednesday night at Auburn Arena.
The Tigers (9-5, 1-1 SEC) hit .231 as a team for the match, more than 30 points above their season average, but Texas A&M (8-5, 1-1) was nearly unstoppable, putting down 43 kills with just five errors for a .481 attack percentage.
"Our last match against Tennessee, I thought that was one of our best defensive efforts," Auburn head coach Rick Nold said. "Unfortunately, we followed that up (tonight) with what I thought was probably our worst. Part of us getting better as a team is taking a game plan and being able to implement it, and that's just something we struggled with. Things that we wanted to take away, we just didn't do the little things to take them away. That left them some great opportunities, and any good team is going to take advantage of that."
McIlroy's 15 kills led all hitters in the match as she swung at a .225 clip. She also had four digs on the night. Three other Auburn starters topped the .200 mark with junior Breanna Barksdale leading the way, hitting .312 with seven kills out of the middle. Courtney Crable overcame a slow start to hit .225 with eight kills, and Emily Klitzke had seven kills while hitting .214.
Sophomore setter Alexa Filley picked up her seventh double-double of the season and second-straight to open SEC play. She posted a match-high 35 assists and led the Tigers with 10 digs. Stephanie Campbell had two service aces - coming back-to-back in the second set - to lead the Tigers in that category.
Both teams had 43 kills on the night, but Auburn took 25 more swings and had 14 more errors than did the Aggies. The teams were also even on service aces with three apiece, but A&M had 10 blocks on the night with Auburn stuffing just two Aggie attacks. The Aggies also won the digs battle, 35-27.
Texas A&M middle blocker Jazzmin Babers led the way with 14 kills on 17 attempts with one error for a .765 hitting percentage. No Aggie hitter had more than one error on the night.
After the Aggies controlled much of the first two sets, the third set was a much tighter affair with six ties and two lead changes. Auburn had the lead at 16-15, but the Aggies went on a 5-0 run during Shelby Sullivan's term of service to take a 20-16 lead. Auburn fought back again to cut it to a one-point game at 22-21, but the Aggies would run off three straight to close out the match. Auburn found an offensive rhythm in the third set, hitting .368 with 17 kills and just three errors.
Auburn wraps up a three-match home stand at 5 p.m. Sunday as the Tigers host LSU at Auburn Arena. The match will be televised by SEC Network, and admission to all home Auburn volleyball matches is free.
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