AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn volleyball team closed out its non-conference slate with a 3-1 (25-20, 28-26, 16-25, 25-23) victory over Florida State Sunday in Auburn Arena. The win moved the team to 7-3 overall.
"There were a lot situations where I don't think we handled the ball well, but the way we battled today is something we like to see from this group," head coach Rick Nold said. "We have a lot of fight in our team and that'll bode well for us as the season progresses."
Senior Brenna McIlroy was the go-to attacker for the Tigers, having a match-best 20 kills to set a season high. Junior Gwyn Jones chipped in 11 kills, while freshman Tatum Shipes came off the bench and had seven kills on eight attempts with one error for a .750 hitting clip.
Freshman setter Mica Allison picked up her second double-double of the season, tying a career-high with 47 assists and setting a career-best with 13 digs. McIlroy picked up her fifth double-double this year with 14 digs.
Freshman libero Bella Rosenthall led all student-athletes with 20 digs, marking her second-straight match with 20+ digs for the Auburn defense. Junior Karis Beasley tied her career high with 16 digs.
Florida State (4-6) had three attackers with double digits. Christina Ambrose finished with 18 kills, while Payton Caffrey and Taryn Knuth totaled 17 and 13, respectively. Setter Brianne Burket led the squad with 28 assists and chipped in 17 digs. Libero Kelsey Wicinski had a team-high 18 digs and Knuth finished with 10 blocks.
The match opened with a back-and-forth affair as the first set saw 11 ties. A block from Taylor Rowland / Shaina White followed by a kill by Rowland pushed Auburn ahead early at 6-5 and a Beasley service ace gave the Tigers a 9-7 advantage. A trio of kills from McIlroy highlighted an AU run that made it 14-10, but the Seminoles edged back to lock the score at 19-19. A Jones kill out of an Auburn timeout made it 20-19 and another kill from Jones sent the team on a run to close out the first, 25-20.
Set two was similar to the first, having 11 ties and five lead changes. FSU took the quick lead at 3-0 before Seminole errors and McIlroy's first ace of the day forced a FSU timeout with AU up at 7-6. The Seminoles responded with big blocks to lock it up at 13-all and the teams battled back and forth to the end of the set. FSU earned set point at 25-24, but a big swing from Jones followed by a visitor error turned the tables with AU up 26-25. A kill from Rowland sealed the win, 28-26.
FSU regrouped and came out swinging in the third. A pair of kills from Allison and one by Jones put AU up 6-5, but the Seminoles followed with a nine-point run to push a 14-6 advantage. Another big push from FSU made it 20-9 and the visitors took the set, 25-16.
The Tigers jumped ahead quickly in the fourth at 4-1 on kills from McIlroy. FSU responded again with a trio of three-point runs and moved ahead at 13-11. Another kill from McIlroy followed by two aces by the senior forced a FSU timeout with the Seminoles up 16-14. The visitors held the lead all the way to the end before kills from Jones and McIlroy made it 22-21 FSU. Back-to-back kills by S. White tied it up at 23-all and a strike from Shipes lifted Auburn to match point, 24-23. S. White/Shipes teamed up for a block secure the victory, 25-23.
The Tigers kick off Southeastern Conference play with a pair of matches next weekend. Auburn opens with a home contest vs. Tennessee, Sept. 21, in Auburn Arena at 7 p.m. CT. The squad follows with a Sunday afternoon tilt on the road, facing rival and nationally-ranked Alabama at 1 p.m. CT in Tuscaloosa.
