LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Auburn volleyball team opened the Kansas Invitational with a loss to Loyola Marymount, 3-0 (17-25, 20-25, 16-25), in the Horejsi Family Athletics Center on the campus of Kansas University. The loss moves the Tigers to 3-3 on the season.
Freshman Taylor Rowland led the squad with 13 kills, while senior Brenna McIlroy finished with seven. Freshman setter Mica Allison paced the Tigers with 24 assists.
Junior Shaina White led the team with four blocks and freshman libero Bella Rosenthall finished with six digs.
LMU (6-1) had four Lions in double digits. Meredith Teague led the way with 12 kills, while Emma Johnson and Savannah Slattery had 11. Sara Kovac chipped in 10. Setter Tess Reid finished with 42 assists and libero Kekai Whitford had 11 digs.
Back-to-back blocks for the Tigers put AU up early, 3-2, and the squads exchanged sideouts throughout the opening part of set one. Two straight kills from Rowland and another by junior Gwyn Jones forced an early LMU timeout with Auburn up 11-8. The Tigers held their slim margin until big swings from the Lions pushed LMU up at 17-15. LMU held its lead with the help of tough serving to take the set, 25-18.
The Lions held their momentum into the second set and took a quick 5-1 lead. AU capitalized on LMU errors to cut the lead at 8-7 and a service ace from Allison locked the stanza at 17-all. The Lions, however, continued to use big swings from all sides of the court and came away with the win, 25-20.
Big runs were the trend of the final set with Auburn opening on a run for a 3-1 lead. LMU responded to go ahead 6-3, but attach errors and a S. White/Rowland block brought the Tigers within one at 8-7. After a handful of three-point pushes from LMU, the Tigers put together a rally behind an S.White/Allison block and an ace from Payton White, 19-14. The late push wasn't enough as LMU closed out the match with a 25-16 win.
Auburn returns to the Horejsi Family Athletics Center later Friday night, facing host Kansas at 7 p.m. CT.