LEXINGTON, Ky. – Auburn volleyball (0-6, 0-6 SEC) wrapped up its fall road slate falling to No. 2 Kentucky (6-0, 6-0 SEC) in straight sets inside Memorial Coliseum Sunday afternoon.
After falling 12-25 in the opening set, Auburn bounced back in set two. Trailing by four, Auburn capitalized on a pair of Kentucky errors, a kill from freshman Audrey Douglas and a block from senior Jaeden Brown to tie the set up at 4-all.
The Tigers took their first lead in the set with a block from Douglas and junior Tatum Shipes. An ace from junior Bella Rosenthall extended the Tiger lead to 8-6.
Kentucky strung together a 4-0 run to push ahead 9-11. Senior Chesney McClellan silenced Kentucky with a solo block, but a second Wildcat run extended the lead to 11-16. Facing Kentucky set point, Auburn went on a 3-0 run late with a McClellan kill and a pair of Wildcat errors, but a service error handed Kentucky a 19-25 win.
The Wildcats jumped out to a six-point lead in the third set, forcing an early Tiger timeout. Auburn grinded out a comeback to cut the lead to three, taking advantage of Kentucky miscues and a pair of kills from Douglas and McClellan.
Auburn pulled within one, 13-14, with a kill from Douglas, but the Wildcat offense muscled out a pair of runs to secure a 15-25 win.
The Tiger offense was evenly spread as four Tigers recorded six kills each. Douglas was the most efficient of Auburn's hitters with a career-high six kills on 11 swings. Committing no errors, she closed the afternoon with a .545 hitting percentage.
Brown found her groove seeing time on the outside for the second straight match, setting a season-high with six kills. Shipes and senior Lauren Dorrell also tallied six kills each. McClellan rounded out Auburn's offense with five.
Freshman Jackie Barrett dished out 23 assists as Auburn's starting setter.
Defensively, the Tigers totaled four blocks with McClellan and Brown each credited with two.
Rosenthall recorded her second double-digit dig performance of the season, leading the team with 10. She also added an ace on the service line. Senior Payton White recorded six digs and added four assists at libero, while Dorrell chipped in five digs.
UP NEXT
The Tigers will have 10 days to recharge ahead of their final matches of the 2020 fall season. Auburn will return to the court on Wednesday, Nov. 18 against Tennessee at 7 p.m. CT on the SEC Network. The season finale against the Lady Volunteers is set for Thursday, Nov. 19 at 5 p.m. CT.
Auburn closes road trip at Kentucky
