AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn volleyball team outlasted Ole Miss Friday night, 3-2 (25-21, 23-25, 25-21, 25-27, 15-12), in Auburn Arena and improved to 9-11 overall and 2-8 in the Southeastern Conference.
"I like the way we played tonight," head coach Rick Nold said. "We've talked a lot about defense the last couple weeks and we're starting to see that come to fruition and it's affecting all areas of our game. I'm happy to see big numbers from a lot of our younger players and we're looking forward to continued improvement this weekend."
Freshman Tatum Shipes put together career numbers for the Tigers, leading all attackers with a career-high 21 kills. Senior Brenna McIlroy followed with 18 and junior Gwyn Jones finished with 13.
Sophomore Chesney McClellen and freshman Mica Allison added eight kills apiece, setting career bests for each. Allison paced the Tiger offense with a career-best 61, marking the first time since 2015 an Auburn setter surpassed 60+ helpers.
Defensively, the Auburn blockers finished with a season-high 14 blocks. Sophomore Anna Stevenson led all student-athletes with seven, while Shipes picked up a career-best six. McClellan had her hand on five and Jones and McIlroy chipped in three apiece.
The back row was led by freshman libero Bella Rosenthall with 22 digs. Junior Karis Beasley added 11 and McIlroy earned her sixth double-double of the year with 10.
Ole Miss (12-12, 2-8) was led by Emily Stroup with 18 kills, while Caitlin Wernertin finished with 12. Setter Lauren Bars had 49 assists and libero Caroline Adams totaled 17 digs.
The Tigers opened the match with a 3-0 lead and a pair of kills by Shipes made it 9-5. The teams exchanged points until a pair of Rebel errors and a McIlroy strike pushed the Tigers ahead at 20-15. Back-to-back kills from Jones set the score 22-16 and a Stevenson/Allison block sealed the first, 25-21.
Auburn brought momentum into the second with more big swings from Jones, 3-2. The Rebels responded with a long run with the help of a handful of Tiger errors, going ahead 13-8. Auburn, however, began to inch back into the contest with a trio of two-point rallies and came within one at 18-17. The home team stalled pair of Ole Miss set points, but the visitors took the stanza, 25-23.
The third set was a back-and-forth affair, seeing 17 ties. A kill from McClellan and a Rebel error locked it up at 8-all. Allison added a kill to push Auburn ahead at 11-10 and a swing from McIlroy brought the teams to the media timeout with AU up 15-14. Strong play at the net followed by a McIlroy ace made it 19-17 and a solo stuff from Shipes forced an Ole Miss timeout late, 23-20. The Tigers capped the set with two kills from Shipes, 25-21.
More strong play up front from Auburn pushed the Tigers to a 7-4 advantage in the fourth. Kills from Jones and Allison lifted AU to a 14-10 lead and another swing from Shipes made it 17-14 in favor of the home squad. Following a timeout, Ole Miss put together a pair of three-point pushes to earn set point, 24-22, but strikes from Stevenson and Shipes locked the squads at 24-all. After exchanging sideouts, Ole Miss held to force the fifth, 27-25.
Auburn regrouped in the final stanza and jumped ahead at 5-1. A Stevenson/Shipes block had the teams switch sides with Auburn ahead 8-3 and four-point push from the Tigers made it 12-4. Ole Miss battled back with a 6-0 run to come within two at 13-11, but a kill from McClellan made it match point and McIlroy sealed the set with a strike, 15-12.
The Tigers cap the weekend with a Sunday afternoon contest vs. Arkansas in Auburn Arena. The two teams will go head-to-head at 1:30 p.m. CT and the match is Auburn's Pink Match. All fans are encouraged to wear pink and admission is free.
