Tigers shake up record book while in Fayetteville

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Record-setting individual performances highlighted a tightly contested match inside Barnhill Arena, but Auburn volleyball (10-5, 2-3 SEC) came up just short falling in four sets (27-25, 18-25, 23-25, 22-25) to Arkansas (13-4, 4-2 SEC) on Saturday.

Saturday's match was a back-and-forth affair throughout its entirety as it featured 42 ties and 29 total lead changes in four sets.

Junior Rebekah Rath turned in one of the best individual offensive performances in program history. Rath closed the night with 29 kills the second most ever recorded by a Tiger during the rally scoring era. Rath's 29 kills were the most in a single match since Ashlee Johns totaled 30 in a five-set contest at Arkansas on Oct. 8, 2004.

Rath totaled her 29 kills off 75 attempts, while committing just 11 errors, for a .240 hitting percentage. Rath ended with one service ace, nine digs and four blocks to total 32.0 points for the Tigers.
Rounding out the offense with senior Val Green, chipping in seven kills, and graduate student Liz Reich with six.

Behind her match-leading 30 digs, senior Bella Rosenthall became just the 15th Tiger in program history to record 1,000 career digs. Rosenthall is the first Tiger to hit the mark since Brenna McIlroy in 2018. Rosenthall has recorded at least 30 digs in a match twice this season. The 30-dig performance is tied for the 10th most individual digs recorded in a single match.

Sophomore setter Jackie Barrett picked up her 10th double-double of the season as she dished out 36 assists and 13 digs. Barrett now has a double-double in her last four matches. The setter added three kills, an ace and set a
career high with eight total blocks.

The Tigers continue their impressive blocking efforts at the net, closing the night with 14.5. Senior Tatum Shipes paced Auburn with 10.0 total blocks. She has now recorded double-digit blocks in two of her last three matches.

Shipes is now tied for seventh in Auburn single-season history with 16 solo blocks. Her 72 block assists are tied for ninth in single-season history. Shipes also now stands ninth in school history with 88.0 total blocks this season.

SET ONE
The opening stanza set the tone as it featured nine ties before the media timeout. Rath gave the Tigers a 15-14 advantage at the break with a kill. After trading kills out of the break, the Tigers went on a 3-0 run with kills from Green and Reich followed by a Razorback set error to force an Arkansas timeout. The Razorbacks used a pair of blocks and offense from its pin hitters to tie the set at 21-all. Auburn would fight off set points twice, tying the set at 25-25 with a Rath kill. A block from Barrett and senior Elif Yavuz gave Auburn the advantage as Rath put the stanza away, 27-25, with her eighth kill of the match.
 
SET TWO
It was all Arkansas early in second set as the Razorbacks used a combination of offense, timely blocks and strong serves to jump out to an 8-4 lead to force a Tiger timeout. With help of Arkansas errors and a block from Barrett and Shipes, Auburn cut the lead to 12-11, but Arkansas maintained built its lead back up, 18-14, with costly Auburn attack errors.  Auburn picked up a kill from Reich in the late stages, but Arkansas closed the set on a 3-0 run to win 25-18.
 
SET THREE
It was once again a back-and-forth affair with 10 ties through the early points before Arkansas took a 15-12 advantage into the media timeout with three straight points. The Tigers battle from behind using a pair of kills from Green to cut the lead to two before Rath and Reich tallied a pair of strikes. Barrett tied the set up at 17-all with an ace before a Tiger block put Auburn in front 18-17 and forced an Arkansas timeout. The two teams would continue trading points, tying the set at 22-all before Arkansas tallied three kills in the final four points to win 25-23.
 
SET FOUR
Arkansas jumped out early, but Auburn once again battled from behind to tie the set up at 12-all with a block from Barrett and Shipes. The two teams would trade points before Arkansas used a kill to take a 15-14 advantage at the media break. Auburn jumped out to a three-point lead with help of kills from Rath and Yavuz, but Arkansas answered to tie the set up at 21-all with back-to-back kills form Taylor Head to force an Auburn timeout. Following the break, a Razorback block and kill pushed the lead to 23-21 and forced a second Tiger timeout. Auburn fought off a set point with a Rath kill, but Arkansas won the final stanza 25-22 with a kill from Jillian Gillen.
 
UP NEXT
The Tigers return to Barnhill Arena on Sunday for a rematch with the Razorbacks. First serve on SEC Network+ is set for 3 p.m. CT.