KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Auburn volleyball team ended the non-conference portion of the season with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-19) sweep of IUPUI Saturday afternoon in University Arena on the campus of Western Michigan. The win pushed Auburn to a 6-5 mark on the year.
"We did a great job with the first contact today," head coach Rick Nold said. "That gave us a lot of opportunity at the net whether it was on offense or defense. A lot of what we've talked about the last couple weeks is learning how we can be most successful. For us, it is in our serving and passing. There are a lot of talent in the SEC and our attack on the serve is a good way to neutralize that. We're excited to get started next weekend."
Sophomore Tatum Shipes and Payton White were named to the Western Michigan All-Tournament team.
Junior Jaeden Brown and Shipes each finished with nine kills for the Tigers, while sophomore Val Green added eight. Senior Enija Bidzane and junior Chesney McClellan chipped in six kills each. Setter Morgan Kull led all student-athletes with 29 assists.
Defensively, Auburn limited IUPUI to a .089 hitting percentage on the day. White put up another solid number in the back row with 13 digs. Freshman Molly Pember chipped in eight. Shipes had a hand in four of Auburn's five blocks.
Green continued to be aggressive from the service line and finished with three aces.
Auburn opens SEC play with two-straight road games, Sept. 27 and Sept. 29. The Tigers will compete against nationally-ranked Florida before closing out the month in Columbia, S.C. against South Carolina.
SET ONE
After going back and forth to start the match, IUPUI pushed a five-point run to take an 11-6 lead. Auburn responded quickly with an 8-0 run highlighted by a pair of Green aces to go up 14-11. The Tigers used a handful of rallies to close out the first, 25-19.
SET TWO
Strong play at the net in the second helped limit the Jaguars to a .000 hitting percentage, while AU finished the stanza with a .444 clip. A McClellan/Shipes block made it 5-2 Auburn and back-to-back kills from Green pushed the Tigers on a run for a 16-9 advantage. Bidzane gave the Tigers set point with a strike and the squad went on to win, 25-13.
SET THREE
Solid serving by Green paired with two Shipes kills made it 10-5 Tigers in the third. IUPUI inched back late in the set to come within one at 16-15, but big blocks from Shipes/Brown pushed the Tigers to a 20-17 lead. A kill from McClellan made it match point and a setter kill by Kull sealed the sweep, 25-19.