Oct. 11, 2015
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The Auburn volleyball team pushed the 17th-ranked Florida Gators to the last point in every set, but the Tigers came up short in a hard-fought three-setter (23-25, 21-25, 18-25) Sunday at the O'Connell Center.
The Tigers (11-6, 3-2 SEC) held leads late in all three sets but could not close out the Gators (11-4, 3-3) as Florida won its second straight after having dropped three in a row coming into the weekend.
"I thought we did a good job starting each game with a really aggressive mentality," Auburn head coach Rick Nold said. "Unfortunately, at about point 18 of each game, we started to back off. If you give this team easy opportunities they will take advantage. We have a lot we can take from this game to understand how to finish it next time."
Courtney Crable led the Auburn offense with 10 kills while hitting .222 on the day. Stephanie Campbell had her second-straight error-free match with seven kills on 15 attempts for a team-best .467 hitting percentage, and Brenna McIlroy and Breanna Barksdale contributed six kills apiece.
Alexa Filley had her ninth double-double of the season and fourth in five SEC matches with 28 assists and a team-high 14 digs. Jesse Earl added 11 digs to help pace the Auburn defense, while Campbell and Emily Klitzke each had three blocks. Earl also had a pair of service aces.
Auburn played nearly flawless volleyball through the first half of the opening set, jumping out to a 15-10 lead while hitting better than .500. But the Gators ramped up the pressure and went on a 10-1 run to take a 20-16 lead as they were able to stay in system better late in the set. The Tigers, however, kept the pressure on and fought back to a 1-point game at 24-23, but an Alhassan block gave Florida the opening game.
Set two was another back-and-forth affair that featured 12 ties and six lead changes, but the Gators were able to pull away at the end for a 25-21 win. Auburn led 18-17 after an ace from Filley, but Florida ran off five straight out of a timeout to take a 22-18 lead. Filley would catch the Gators napping with a quick tip and a Campbell-Klitzke block made it 22-20, but Auburn could get no closer the rest of the way. Five of Auburn's eight hitting errors in the second set came on Florida blocks.
The third set saw Auburn jump out to another early lead, holding a four-point advantage as late as 16-12. But the Gators took advantage of several Auburn errors, including three straight blocks, to finish the set on a 13-2 run and clinch the match. The Gators, who committed 14 service errors in the match, had just two in the third set and held Auburn to an .049 hitting percentage.
For the match, Auburn hit .140 as a team while the Gators swung at a .327 clip. Florida had only four more kills than Auburn (41-37) and the Tigers won the digs battle (48-45), but Florida - the top blocking team in the SEC - continued that trend with 10 blocks to the Tigers' four.
Alex Holston led the Gators with 12 kills and no errors, hitting .500 for the match. As a team, the Gators had just eight attack errors in the match.
The Tigers return to Auburn Arena this Friday, Oct. 16, to take on their second-straight ranked opponent, SEC-leading and 20th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats. First serve for the annual "Dig Pink" match is set for 7 p.m., and admission is free.
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