Sept. 3, 2016
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The Auburn volleyball team fell to a tough Santa Clara team, 3-1 (29-31, 25-16, 25-23, 25-19), Saturday afternoon in the KFC Yum! Center as part of the Active Ankle Challenge. Auburn moves to 2-4 on the season.
A trio of Tigers finished with double-doubles on the day. Junior libero Jesse Earl set a season-high with 28 digs and a career-high with 14 assists. Junior setter Alexa Filley had 32 assists and a season-best 15 digs, while sophomore Brenna McIlroy totaled 12 kills and 13 digs.
Senior Emily Klitzke led the Tigers with 14 kills and freshman Gwyn Jones added 10. The Auburn blockers had a season-best 11 stuffs with senior Breanna Barksdale leading the way with seven.
Nikki Hess had a match-high 18 kills and added 13 digs for Santa Clara (5-0). Jensen Cunningham chipped in 15 kills and Sabrina Clayton totaled 13 with 14 digs. Libero Taylor Laugero had a match-high 32 digs and setter Kirsten Mead had 48 assists.
Small runs led to a 12-7 lead for Santa Clara in set one, forcing an Auburn timeout. Down 18-12, a kill from Barksdale triggered a 6-2 Tiger rally and kills from Klitzke and Filley tied the set at 21. Auburn held off five Bronco set points and used Santa Clara errors to go up 29-28. A Courtney Crable kill made it 30-29 and a Barksdale/Filley block gave Auburn the set, 31-29.
The Broncos jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the second set and used an eight-point run to go up 17-8. Kills from Jones and McIlroy cut into the Santa Clara lead, 22-15, but the Broncos closed out the set to win 25-16.
A McIlroy service ace and a Bronco error gave Auburn an early 4-2 advantage in set three. Santa Clara battled back and used a run to go up 12-7. Another long Bronco run made it 17-11, but the Tigers responded with a rally to make it 17-15. Santa Clara pushed to set point at 24-19 before Auburn came back with a four-point run, 24-23. An Auburn error closed out the set, 25-23, Santa Clara.
The Broncos grabbed an 8-3 lead to start the fourth set, forcing an early Auburn timeout. A kill from Macy Reece sent the Tigers on a five-point run to tie the set at 10 apiece before a couple Auburn errors gave the Broncos another lead, 13-10. Santa Clara pushed to a 17-12 advantage and the team held on for a 25-19 win.
Auburn closes out the Active Ankle Challenge Saturday night, taking on host and No. 21 Louisville at 6:30 p.m. CT in the KFC Yum! Center.