Volleyball edges out Aggies, 3-2, for historic program victory

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas –After the Tigers (13-10, 5-8 SEC) took the opening two sets, Texas A&M (12-10, 5-7 SEC) responded to force a decisive fifth set that saw Auburn volleyball come from behind (25-15, 25-22, 19-25, 20-25, 15-12) to knock off the Aggies Friday night at Reed Arena for a historic program victory.

The victory was the program's first win over the Aggies in College Station and snapped a 10-match losing skid to Texas A&M. It was just Auburn second victory in the series history and the first since 2013.

Auburn's offense turned in one of its most balanced performances as four Tigers closed the night with double-digit kills. Rebekah Rath topped the offense with 19 kills for her 19th double-digit kill performance of her junior season.

The performance jumped Rath to second in Auburn single-season history in the rally scoring era as she has recorded 384 kills this season, the most by any Tiger since 2012.
Rath chipped in 13 digs for her seventh double-double. She was also credited with a block and one assist. Rath was lethal at the service line, recording five of Auburn's 11 service aces in the match. She is the first Tiger to record at least five aces in a single match since Breanna McIlroy at Missouri on Oct. 19, 2018.

Senior Val Green totaled 10 kills in the match for her 10th double-digit kill output in 2021. Green added one block and seven digs. Graduate student Liz Reich was solid across the board with 10 kills, two blocks and six digs.

Rounding out the offense was Elif Yavuz. The senior recorded a career high 10 kills and was errorless in her 17 attempts for a .588 hitting percentage. Yavuz added an ace, five digs and led the Tigers with four blocks.

Sophomore setter Jackie Barrett dished out 43 assists in the victory while adding 16 digs for her team-leading 15th double-double. Barrett added one kill, two blocks and contributed to Auburn's phenomenal serving performance with three, tying her career high.

Senior Tatum Shipes was created with three blocks in the match with one solo stuff and two assists. She is now just three block assists shy of setting the program's single-season record for the rally-scoring era. Shipes added a pair of kills and five digs.

Defensively, all nine Tigers that saw the court recorded at least five digs in the match with five finishing with at least 10. Joining Rath and Barret in double figures were freshmen Kate Curtis and Fallan Lanham as the recorded 13 and 15, respectively.

Senior Bella Rosenthall paced the offense with 17 total digs. With 434, Rosenthall is now tied for seventh in Auburn single-season history for total digs with Alyssa Ivey (2014.)

SET ONE
The Tigers set the tone out the gate with three straight points highlight by back-to-back kills from Reich and Yavuz. Aggie attack errors opened the door for Auburn to pad its lead before a block from Barrett and Shipes put the exclamation point on a 4-0 run. Barrett would come up big at the service line with a pair of aces before a kill from Green put the Tigers up 15-8 at the media timeout. Clicking on all cylinders, the Auburn offensive attack landing six kills to force a late Aggie timeout with the Tigers holding a 22-13 advantage. Green's second kill of opening stanza gave the Tigers' set point. The Aggies landed a late kill, but a costly attack error gave Auburn the set.
 
SET TWO
Again, it was all Auburn early as the Tigers jumped out 3-1 with the help of Aggie errors. Auburn would land three straight kills from three different Tigers to push its lead to five points. Texas A&M would battle back but a pair of kills from Green and more Aggie miscues had Auburn up 15-11 at the media timeout. Out of the timeout, Rath responded with a service ace and kill, but Texas A&M would find its rhythm with an 8-1 run to jump in front 19-18. The teams would trade three ties before Yavuz and Reich came up with a timely block. Tigers built their lead with a Rath kill and another stuff at the net from the combo of Reich and Yavuz. With a 24-22 advantage, Reich put the set away with a kill.
 
SET THREE
Texas A&M set the tone, winning the first five points of the set. Auburn would battle from behind to cut the lead to one, 7-6, with three straight points from Rath in the form of a kill and two service aces. Auburn would ultimately lock the set up at 10-all, but the Aggies reeled off three straight points to regain the lead. Following the run, Auburn landed seven points all via kills and used an Aggie attack error to chip the lead to 20-18. The Aggies responded with three kills from the combo of Treyaunna Rush and Morgan Christon to force a Tiger timeout. Green would deliver a kill out of the break, but the Aggies held on for the 25-19 victory.
 
SET FOUR
It was a tight through the opening points as the two teams traded a total of four ties before the Aggies put together a 5-1 run to take a 10-6 advantage. Auburn kept it close with three straight points capped off with a service ace from Barrett to pull within one. Using its second 3-0 run of the match, Auburn jumped in front 12-11 behind a huge swing by Rath. Following three ties, the Aggies used kills from Rush and Christon to take a 16-14 advantage, but Auburn would battle late to tie the set up once more at 18-all. The Aggies landed a pair of kills and two service aces to string together a 4-0 run to take a 22-18 advantage. Using a pair of kills and a block to win the set, 25-20, Texas A&M forced a decisive fifth stanza.
 
SET FIVE
Auburn used the offensive threat of Reich and Rath to counter the Aggies early, but Texas A&M held an 8-4 advantage at the midway point. Auburn responded with kills from Rath and Yavuz to pull within one, 8-7. From there, the two teams went blow for blow before a service ace from Lanham tied the match at 10-all. After trading points to tie the set up at 12-all, a costly Aggie error gave Auburn the late edge. Rath delivered the final blows with back-to-back kills to seal the victory, 15-12.
 
UP NEXT
The Tigers return to Auburn Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 10 for a single match against South Carolina. First serve is set for 8 p.m. CT on SEC Network.