AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn volleyball team fell 3-0 (16-25, 18-25, 14-25) to New Mexico State in the night cap of the War Eagle Invitational on Friday at Auburn Arena.
Junior Chesney McClellan led the squad with seven kills. Freshman Lily Thomason, in her first action for the Tigers, collected four. Sophomore setter Marissa Hines totaled 12 assists and junior Morgan Kull chipped in 11 for the Auburn offense.
Defensively, freshman defensive specialist Molly Pember led the Tigers with a career-high 10 digs, while junior Payton White added seven.
New Mexico State (2-0) was led by Julianna Salanoa with 13 kills to pace all student-athletes. Senior Megan Hart chipped in with 10 kills, while Savannah Davison added seven.
Auburn (0-2) continues play in the War Eagle Invitational tomorrow against Butler. The Tigers and Bulldogs will face off at 1 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.
SET ONE
The Tigers and Aggies went back and forth, with both teams taking advantage of early errors to start the match at nine apiece. NMSU capitalized on Auburn miscues to take a 13-9 lead. A big swing from Enija Bidzane brought the home team within one, but the Aggies responded with a 5-0 run and closed with a 4-0 push to take the set, 25-16.
SET TWO
After a kill from Val Green, the Aggies used a 3-0 rally to take a 9-6 lead. Auburn took advantage of back-to-back NMSU errors to knot things up at 12. The Aggies pushed a 7-1 run to jump ahead 19-13 and went on to win the set, 25-18.
SET THREE
Freshman Lily Thomason collected her first kill to bring the Tigers within two at 5-7. NMSU proceeded to go on a 10-2 run to push the Aggie advantage to 17-7. Junior Shea McNamara picked up her first career kill in the set, but the Aggies went on to win, 25-14.