Oct. 15, 2017
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" The Auburn volleyball team dropped a 3-1 (16-25, 25-22, 27-25, 25-19) match at Texas A&M Sunday afternoon in Reed Arena. Auburn moves to 11-6 overall and 4-4 in Southeastern Conference play.
"I like the way we came out to start the match," head coach Rick Nold said. "I thought we did a great job keeping Texas A&M off balance and served aggressively. As the match went on, we gave up too many free balls to give their offense opportunities. We need maintain our aggressiveness in system better and also make adjustments going into this week."
Senior Courtney Crable reached a season-best with 13 kills to lead the Tigers. Freshman Anna Stevenson tied a career high with 12, while sophomore Shaina White finished with nine.
Senior setter Alexa Filley picked up her 11th double-double of the season, recording 44 assists and 11 digs. Senior libero Jesse Earl had a match-high 16 digs for the Tiger defense. Sophomore Karis Beasley reached a career-high with 13 and junior Brenna McIlroy totaled 12.
The Aggies (6-8, 3-4 SEC) had three finish with double-digit kills. Samantha Sanders led the way with 13, while Kiara McGree added 12 and Hollan Hans had 10. Setter Camille Conner finished with 41 assists and 11 digs and libero Amy Nettles had 15 digs.
The Tigers grabbed a 5-2 lead in the first with the help of aggressive serving from Earl. A Gwyn Jones /Filley block forced an Aggie timeout at 11-6 and a pair of Filley aces pushed the visitors to a 14-7 advantage. Another Auburn block sent the Tigers on a four-point run, 23-15, and back-to-back Stevenson kills sealed the set, 25-16.
The second set was a back-and-forth affair, seeing 13 ties and seven lead changes. The Aggies pushed a 7-5 advantage before Auburn responded to go up 9-8. TAMU errors made it 17-15, but the Tigers gave up the lead with a handful of errors themselves to make it 19-17 Aggies. A kill by Jones and another Earl ace made it 21-21, but the home team held to take a 25-22 win.
Auburn opened up set three with a 3-0 lead and then followed with a four-point run to make it 8-2. The Aggies used a long run of their own to cut the Tiger lead at 15-13, but kills from Crable and McIlroy made it 18-13 visitors. TAMU, however, utilized a late timeout to regroup and capitalized on a handful of runs to take the set, 27-25.
The Aggies held momentum into the fourth and jumped ahead at 7-2. TAMU continued to push and went up 17-8. The Tigers regrouped for a six-point run to cut the Aggie lead, 17-14, but home squad held to take the match, 25-19.
Auburn returns to The Plains for a pair of matches in Auburn Arena. The Tigers first host South Carolina Wednesday, Oct. 18, at 7 p.m. CT. The contest will be aired live on SEC Network. Auburn follows with a Sunday afternoon tilt, Oct. 22, against No. 1 Florida. The Tigers and the Gators will square off at 1:30 p.m. CT. Both home matches are free admission.