AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn volleyball team dropped a 3-1 (22-25, 25-12, 25-21, 25-13) match to Tennessee Friday night in the Southeastern Conference opener in Auburn Arena. The loss moved the Tigers to 7-4 overall and 0-1 in the league.
"I thought we had great energy in that first set, but lost it quickly as the match went on," head coach Rick Nold said. "We were not being aggressive from both the service line and in our defense and you can't do that with a really good team like Tennessee."
Senior Brenna McIlroy and freshman Taylor Rowland finished with double-digit kills on the outside for the Tigers. McIlroy led the squad with 15, while Rowland chipped in 11. Junior Shaina White finished with five kills and freshman setter Mica Allison had 34 assists.
Freshman libero Bella Rosenthall led the team with 14 digs, while junior Karis Beasley finished with 12. Allison had nine and McIlroy picked up eight in the back row.
Tennessee (10-3, 1-0) was led by Tessa Grubbs with 17 kills. Addisyn Rowe had 13, while Alyssa Adreno finished with 12. Libero Madison Coulter had a match-high 15 digs and Erica Treiber led the match with four blocks.
Auburn came out with momentum in the first and took an 8-4 advantage, forcing a quick UT timeout. A kill from McIlroy made it 13-8 before a three-point Lady Vol run brought the visitors within three at 14-11. The teams exchanged points until back-to-back kills from McIlroy made it 21-17. A strike by Chesney McClellan gave Auburn set point and a kill from Gwyn Jones sealed the first win for AU, 25-22.
Tennessee quickly regrouped and used skilled attacks to take an early 6-1 lead in set two. More runs from the Lady Vols made it 16-7 and the visitors took the set with a 25-12 win.
Big blocks from UT early in the third pushed the Lady Vols ahead at 8-5. However, strong swings by McIlroy and a service ace from Payton White forced a Tennessee timeout with UT up 13-12. After a 3-0 run from the Vols at 20-16, a pair of kills by S. White highlighted a late Auburn rally to cut the UT lead at 21-20. The Lady Vols regrouped out of a timeout and closed out the set with a 25-21 victory.
A pair of runs from Tennessee pushed the visitors to a 7-4 lead in set four and another rally lifted the Lady Vols to a 14-7 advantage. The hold was too strong for Auburn to break through and UT went on to take the match with a 25-13 win.
Auburn closes out the conference-opening weekend with a trip to Tuscaloosa Sunday. The Tigers and No. 25 Alabama will face off at 1 p.m. inside Foster Auditorium.