AUBURN, Ala. – Another match, another freshman stepping into the limelight for Auburn Volleyball (5-0, 0-0).
Piling up a career-high 11 kills, Bel Zimmerman's potent performance led the Tigers to a 3-0 (25-9, 25-14, 25-13) sweep of Alabama A&M (0-7, 0-0) to remain perfect on the season.
While Zimmerman's prowess was on full display Tuesday evening, the first set belonged to Auburn's other youngsters.
Freshman Kendal Kemp and sophomore Jordan Sinness set the tone early and often from the service line as the Tigers strutted out to a quick 6-1 lead.
Sarah Morton and Zoe Slaughter continued the pressure, adding aces of their own. In fact, Slaughter matched her career-best with three aces in just the first set. As a team, the Tigers collected seven in the opening frame.
Kemp along with fellow middle blocker Chelsey Harmon provided a 1-2 punch at the net, combining for seven kills to round out the first set.
Defensively, Auburn was causing problems for the Bulldogs all evening long. The Orange and Blue forced Alabama A&M into a negative hitting percentage in the first set and ultimately held them to just -.063 on the evening. It was the first time the Tigers held an opponent negative since facing Belmont in 2014.
What ultimately started as a slow second set became a blur with the pace and power of Zimmerman. Virtually unstoppable, the Liberty, Missouri native swung 11 times and slammed home a kill on 10 of them.
Her Show Me State sister in Madison Scheer added another five kills as Auburn hit .457, stacking up scoring runs of three, four, five and six points in a row at separate times throughout the set.
Commanding lead in hand, Sinness orchestrated a balanced attack in the third. Five different hitters collected multiple kills in the set with Scheer and Akasha Anderson grabbing three apiece.
Sarah Morton made sure nothing was going to drop in front of the back row. She'd reach double-digit digs for the fourth match this season as Morton and Tigers slammed the door shut on the Bulldogs to earn the sweep.
MATCH NOTES
- Auburn moves to 5-0, one win away from equaling the effort in 2021, and three wins away from matching the 2012 team that started 8-0
- Auburn's .400 hitting percentage was a season-best for the Tigers and the highest since hitting .457 against Jackson State in August of 2021
- 42 kills represent a season-high in a three-set match for the Tigers
- Auburn's 11 aces match the highest total this season. The Tigers have done it three times in 2022, most recently against Georgia State on Aug. 26
- Madison Scheer's .562 hitting percentage is a career-best with at least 12 attempts
- Sarah Morton has reached the double-digit dig mark in 4-5 matches this season
- Morton's three aces also match a career-best for the freshman
- Akasha Anderson set a new career-high with seven digs
- Kendal Kemp matched her career-best with seven kills
- With three aces, Zoe Slaughter equaled her career-high
- Jordan Sinness reset her career-best in aces with three
- Bel Zimmerman collected a career-high 12 kills on .450 hitting
- Chelsey Harmon's five kills were a season-high
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