Nov. 25, 2017
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" The Auburn volleyball closed out the 2017 regular season on the road, falling to Arkansas, 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-20). The Tigers finished the season with a 15-12 mark and an 8-10 record in the Southeastern Conference.
"We did not maintain momentum when we had the lead and Arkansas took advantage of that," head coach Rick Nold said. "Arkansas played very good defense and we had trouble getting past that today."
Senior setter Alexa Filley finished with her 20th double-double of the season, having 33 assists and 11 digs. Classmate Jesse Earl finished with a match-best 20 digs, and senior Macy Reece finished 13 kills.
Junior Brenna McIlroy had another double-digit kill performance, totaling 10 kills for the Tigers. Sophomore Shaina White and Gwyn Jones added seven apiece.
The Razorbacks (19-11, 9-9) were led by Pilar Victoria with 18 kills. Elizabeth Pamphile added 11, while Hailey Dirrigl finished with nine. Setter Rachel Rippee had a match-high 34 assists and libero Okiana Valle totaled 19 digs.
The first set saw 10 ties and six lead changes as the teams battled back and forth. Kills from S. White and Reece locked the stanza at 7-7 before the Razorbacks pushed a four-point run to take a 12-9 advantage. The Tigers came back with big blocks to go up 19-18, but Arkansas capitalized on Auburn hitting miscues to take the set, 25-21.
Auburn came out in the second with a 5-2 lead off kills from Jones and McIlroy. The Razorbacks responded with a run to go ahead 8-6, but solid play from McIlroy forced an Arkansas timeout with the Tigers up 13-12. Another Auburn run made it 20-16, but the home squad capitalized on solid defense to go up 2-0 in the match, 25-22.
Arkansas pushed an 8-5 lead in set three before a kill from McIlroy pushed Auburn to a 9-8 advantage. The teams battled back and forth and a kill from Reece tied the set up at 20-all. The Razorbacks, however, closed out the match on a five-point run to win, 25-20.