Auburn, Ala. — Auburn volleyball defeated Samford in a tight, four-set match. The Tigers opened the match well, downing the Bulldogs 25-18, but Samford fought hard through the rest of the match, pushing Auburn to a 28-26 second set before winning the third frame 25-20. Auburn wrapped the match on top with a 25-20 fourth set. Greer Chambless led the Tigers with 15 kills, hitting .353 on 34 swings. Grace Havlicek finished the night with 10 kills and seven blocks, powered by a huge six-kill final set.
The Tigers got out to a 10-3 lead on back-to-back Chambless kills. Samford began to pull back into the set, drawing within four points at the media timeout. A heap of Bulldog errors helped lead Auburn to a 20-15 lead. Havlicek added a kill and a block to close out the set on a 4-1 run for Auburn. Chambless led the Tigers with four kills in the set. Reese Shugart added three kills, two blocks, and two aces.
Samford took a 7-4 lead to start the second set, led by a four-point Bulldog run. Back-to-back Chambless kills capped off a 6-2 Auburn run to put the Tigers ahead for the first time in the set. After starting the match on the bench, Belle Patrick, led the charge for Auburn through the middle of the set, picking up three kills and an ace through a 5-3 Tiger run. Samford went on a four-point to take a 19-16 lead, but Auburn responded with three points of their own, tying on a Shanelle Puetz kill. Three-straight Samford errors capped a four-point run for Auburn. The Bulldogs continued to fight through the set, drawing into set point at 24-23 to force an Auburn timeout. The Tigers responded out of the timeout with a 5-2 run to win the set, 28-26. Patrick and Chambless each tallied five kills in the set. Symone Sims led Auburn with seven digs in the frame.
The Bulldogs strung together multiple runs to overcome a 10-7 Auburn lead. Eventually, Samford led 15-14 and extended their advantage to 19-17 before Havlicek recorded a kill and block to tie the set. After a tie at 20-20, Samford exploded for a five-point run, winning the set on a block. Emily Keiran dug out seven Samford attacks, leading the Tigers in the set.
A five-point streak put Auburn up 13-6, capping the run on a pair of Chambless kills. Despite a three-point run by Samford to pull within four points, Auburn returned with kills from Havlicek, Chambless, and Ivkovic to take a 22-15 lead. Samford scored four straight to force another Tiger timeout at 22-19. Out of the timeout, Auburn clinched the set and match on a 3-1 run with an explosive kill by Havlicek to end the match. Havlicek dominated the set with six kills on eight attacks and two blocks. Keiran added six more digs to finish the match with 18.
NOTABLES
- Havlicek set a career high with 10 kills on a career-high 18 attempts. Havlicek duplicated her career-high six digs from last night.
- Keiran’s 18 digs were a career high and tied for the most by a Tiger this season.
- Auburn’s 66 digs as a team were the most this season.
- Anastasija Ivkovic has logged double-digit kills for the third consecutive match for the first time in her career.
- Shugart set career highs with three blocks and two aces.
- Samford logged 11 blocks, the most by an Auburn opponent this season.
TIGER STANDOUTS
- Chambless led the Tigers with 15 kills, hitting .353 on 34 attempts.
- Havlicek recorded a career-high 10 kills, with seven blocks, and tied a career-high set last night with six digs.
- Keiran dug out a career-high 18 balls, leading Auburn. Keiran also had four assists and an ace.
- Carson Eickenloff led Auburn with 24 assists. She also recorded four digs.
- Patrick tallied 11 kills off the bench, not playing in the first set. Patrick also recorded a pair of aces and seven digs.
HEAD COACH BRENT CROUCH
- “Another match where even though we’re on the right side of the scoreboard, we have a lot to work on. It’s the second match in a row we’ve blocked double-digit times. We were fortunate to dig out a lot more blocks.
We were able to spread the offense out, something we wanted to work on with Lauren still out, so it was good to see four different players with double-digit kills.”
UP NEXT
- Auburn finishes the non-conference slate and the Alabama Showdown tomorrow against South Alabama at 2 p.m. The Tigers will hit the road next week for the Southeastern Conference opener at Arkansas.
—War Eagle—