OXFORD, Miss. – The Auburn volleyball team earned a 3-1 (25-19, 25-21, 18-25, 25-15) win on the road, topping Ole Miss in the Gillom Center Sunday afternoon. The win moved the Tigers to 8-6 overall and 1-3 in the Southeastern Conference.
"I'm very happy with our response after Wednesday's result," head coach Rick Nold said. "It's tough being on the road with the stretch that we have to start the conference, but I felt we did a great job putting pressure on Ole Miss from the start. We played a simple game today and had fun."
A trio of Tigers finished with double-digit kills on the day. Sophomore Anna Stevenson led the squad with 13 kills, tying her career high. Junior Shaina White and senior Brenna McIlroy followed with 11 and 10, respectively. Setter Mica Allison led all student-athletes with 40 assists.
The Auburn blockers once again put up big numbers, tying the team's best this season with 13 stuffs in the match. Stevenson recorded her second-straight contest with nine blocks, tying another career high. Allison and S. White added three, while McIlroy and Gwyn Jones had two each.
McIlroy picked up her team-leading sixth double-double, having 11 digs for the Tiger defense. Junior Karis Beasley had 11 digs for the Auburn and sophomore Payton White and freshman Bella Rosenthall chipped in six apiece.
Ole Miss (10-7, 0-3) was led by Emily Stroup with 15 kills. Libero Caroline Adams led all student-athletes with 14 digs and setter Jordan Fate had 23 assists.
Auburn opened the match with a 5-1 lead behind big blocks from Stevenson. Tough serving from Rosenthall sent the squad on a four-point push for an 11-4 lead, forcing an early Ole Miss timeout. A handful of two-point runs from the Tigers made it 21-12 and AU held off a late run from Ole Miss to win, 25-19.
Ole Miss came out with an early 5-3 lead in the second set before the Tigers battled back for the advantage at 7-6. A kill from McIlroy triggered a four-point push from the visiting squad for a 15-10 gain, but the Rebels came out of a timeout with some momentum to come within one at 15-14. The teams exchanged points until back-to-back kills from McIlroy made it set point and Auburn took the stanza, 25-21.
The Rebels took advantage of early Auburn errors and went up 8-4. A pair of two-point runs from Ole Miss made it 15-10 and more AU miscues pushed the home team ahead 18-12. The Rebels took the set, 25-18.
Rebel errors helped the Tigers go up 6-2 in the fourth and a kill from S. White sent Ole Miss to a timeout, 10-5. After going back and forth, a block from Taylor Rowland /S. White made it 17-11 and two-straight stuffs from Stevenson pushed Auburn to a 23-15 lead. Auburn took the match with a 25-15 win.
The Tigers finally return to Auburn Arena next week, starting with a Wednesday-night contest vs. Georgia. AU and the Bulldogs face off at 6 p.m. CT on ESPNU. The Tigers follow with a Sunday afternoon tilt against Alabama at home, starting at 1:30 p.m. CT on SEC+.
