KENNESAW, Ga. – After falling behind early, the Auburn volleyball team regrouped to take the final three sets for a 3-2 (22-25, 20-25, 28-26, 26-24, 15-9) victory at Kennesaw State Tuesday night in the Convocation Center. The Tigers improved to 6-3 overall with the win.
"Kennesaw State has been a very good team the last couple years and came out strong," head coach Rick Nold said. "They put a lot of pressure on us early and it was great to see the way we responded after being down two sets. We've had matches where we've struggled to get out of it and to see us battle back in tight sets was very encouraging. We were making those simple plays to return the pressure and it was enough to come out on top."
The Tigers were led by senior Brenna McIlroy with 14 kills, while juniors Shaina White and Gwyn Jones chipped in 11 apiece. Freshman Tatum Shipes came off the bench and finished with seven kills in the match. Freshman setter Mica Allison totaled 37 assists and seven kills for the Auburn offense.
Defensively, freshman libero Bella Rosenthall reached a career-high 25 digs to lead all student-athletes in the match. McIlroy added 11 for her fourth double-double of the year. Allison totaled nine digs and sophomore Payton White finished with eight.
The Tiger blockers had with a season-high 13 blocks as sophomore Chesney McClellan tied her career-best with seven. S. White and Jones added five in the match.
Auburn also excelled from the service line, totaling nine aces on the night. P. White led the way with a career-best three, while McIlroy and S. White had two each.
KSU (6-4) was led by a trio of Owls in double digits offensively. Lauren Chastang finished with a match-best 19 kills, while Quin Sutphin added 15 and Dani Ballou had 10. Setter Lexi Broadwater totaled 46 assists and libero Karlee Groover had 19 digs.
Auburn jumped ahead early, taking a quick 6-3 advantage. The home squad responded with a run behind AU errors to go up 13-11 and the Owls held the lead throughout the rest of the set. A service ace from S. White brought the Tigers within one at 19-18, but KSU closed out the set with a 25-22 win.
KSU kept momentum into the second and took a quick 8-4 lead. Auburn responded with big blocks to tie the set at 11, but the Owls responded again and forced a Tiger timeout with a 17-12 advantage. AU put together a pair of small runs towards the end of the set, however KSU held and took the stanza, 25-20.
The Owls continued their tough play and went ahead 7-2 in set three to send Auburn to an early timeout. The Tigers took advantage of the break and pushed a seven-point rally to take the lead, 9-7. The rest of the set was a back-and-forth affair between the two squads until KSU faced match point, 24-23. A kill by McIlroy and a P. White service ace moved Auburn ahead at 25-24 and after another KSU push, the Tigers took advantage of Owl errors to win the set, 28-26.
After exchanging points to start the fourth, a kill from Allison sent the Tigers on a run for a 10-6 lead. Owl errors made it 14-12 AU and a kill from Shipes set the score, 19-16. KSU regrouped and locked it up at 20-all, but Auburn took set point with another Owl error, 24-22. KSU held off the Tigers until a kill and service ace from S. White sent the match into deciding stanza, 26-24.
Auburn held the energy heading into the fifth and went up 6-2 to send KSU into an early timeout. After kills from McIlroy and Allison for an 8-3 lead, the Owls chipped away to come within two at 11-9. AU wasn't fazed and pushed the final four points, capping the match with a block from Jones/McClellan, 15-9.
The Tigers return to Auburn Arena Sunday, hosting Florida State in the final non-conference match of 2018. Auburn and the Seminoles will go head-to-head at 12 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
