TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Auburn volleyball (7-22, 1-17 SEC) closed the regular season with a 3-0 sweep (29-27, 25-13, 25-17) over in-state rival Alabama inside Foster Auditorium Saturday.
The Tigers turned its best attacking performance in conference play with a .365 hitting percentage behind 96 total kills. With help of eight team blocks, Auburn held Alabama with a 135 clip.
Sophomore Tatum Shipes close the weekend with her second straight double-digit kill performance, leading the team with 15. She added two assists, eight digs and two blocks. Freshman Lily Thomason added eight kills with two digs and a block.
Senior Shaina White was lights out with seven kills off 11 attempts for a .636 hitting. Junior Jaeden Brown also had a hot hand with seven kills for a .500 hitting clip. Brown added three blocks. Junior Chesney McClellan chipped in four kills and was impressive at the net with a team-leading five blocks.
Junior setter Morgan Kull paced the offense with 33 assists. Kull added three kills, two service aces and four digs. Sophomore Bella Rosenthall led the defense with 12 digs. She also chipped in three assists and an ace.
Alabama (12-17, 4-14 SEC) was led by Hayley McSparin, who totaled 15 kills in the match. Setters Meghan Neelon and Emily Janek recorded 16 and 17 assists, respectively. Kaylee Thomas led the Tide defense with 11 digs.
SET ONE
Alabama opened the match with a 3-0 run, but the Tigers battled behind big play from Brown, who tallied two kills and a solo block before the media break to tie the match up at 12-12. The two squads traded points before a solo block McClellan gave Auburn the 15-14 edge at the media timeout. Auburn continued its run out of the break with four straight points to force an Alabama timeout. The Tigers maintained its lead until a kill from the Tide's Ginger Perinar tied the set at 22-all. Auburn stretched out another lead with McClellan's third kill of the game lining up set point for the Tigers, 24-23. Alabama fought off three set-point attempts to work a 27-26 advantage, but Shipes hammered home a kill to tie the set. Thomason secured a 29-27 victory for Auburn with back-to-back kills.
SET TWO
The set stanza featured a close start with Alabama holding a 10-9 lead before a 6-0 Auburn run capped off with an ace from Kull put the Tigers up 15-10 heading into the media timeout. Auburn continued its pressure out of the break, extending the run to nine straight points, to force an Alabama timeout. Alabama silenced the scoring drive after 10 consecutive Auburn points, but the Tigers continued the pressure with a kill from White to go ahead 21-11. The Tigers closed the set on the 4-0 run to cruise to a 25-13 victory.
SET THREE
Auburn opened with a 3-0 run and smothered the Alabama offense in the early stages of the set forcing the Tide to take a timeout facing a 10-4 deficit. The Tide found some footing, but a Shipes kill and an Alabama attack error force another Tide timeout with the Tigers leading 16-8. The Tigers would maintain their lead to take the final set 25-17.