TALLAHASSEE, Fla.— Three Tigers set or matched career-bests in kills Auburn got production from up and down the lineup in a 3-1 victory (25-18, 25-18, 16-25, 25-18) at Florida State Tuesday night in the ACC/SEC Showdown at the Net.
Five Auburn players finished with at least six kills as multiple players found key roles in the offense. Auburn had success setting the middle as Grace Havlicek matched a career-high with eight kills and also finished with seven blocks, swinging at a .571 clip.
Joining Havlicek with a big night in the middle was Kate Mansfield, who matched Havlicek with eight kills of her own along with four blocks and a .615 hitting percentage.
Anastasija Ivkovic found success on the right side with a career-high nine kills on 20 swings. And setter Shanelle Puetz hit .750 with six kills on eight attempts to go along with 14 assists.
Belle Patrick led the Auburn attack with 14 kills, and Carson Eickenloff recorded the first double-double of her career with 20 assists and a team-best 10 digs.
As a team, Auburn hit .289 for the match and had 11 team blocks, their most so far this season.
Auburn got off to a quick start, jumping out to a 5-1 lead and never trailing in the opening set. Back-to-back blocks pushed the lead to 14-8, and then a Patrick cross-court swing made it 15-9 at the technical timeout. The Tigers game out of the timeout firing, getting a kill from Ivkovic and another block from Patrick and Mansfield to force FSU’s second timeout at 17-9.
The Auburn lead would climb to as many as 10 at 22-12 on the strength of the Tigers’ fifth block of the set, this one from Mansfield and Chambless. After an FSU mini-run, Havlicek put away the first set, 25-18. Auburn hit .360 in the opening set and, with five blocks, held FSU to minus-.048.
Set two was more of the same as Auburn hit .400 with 17 kills on 35 swings. A 6-1 run early in the set was punctuated with back-to-back blocks and then an ace from Symone Sims to give Auburn a 9-4 lead and force an FSU timeout.
The run continued as it went from 10-6 to 13-6 and FSU called its second timeout. Patrick rolled off three straight kills to push the advantage to 15-6.
FSU would get within five at 17-12 but would pull no closer. Havlicek got her fifth kill of the match to push it to set point, and Ivkovic put it away to give Auburn a 25-18 set two win.
The third set, however, was all FSU as they pushed it to a fourth with a 25-18 win. The Seminoles jumped out to a big lead and never looked back as Auburn could get very little going on offense.
Set four looked more like the first two as Auburn took control early, leading FSU to burn two quick timeouts as the Tigers pushed ahead to an 8-2 lead on the strength of back-to-back aces from Macy McAmis. FSU cut the deficit to as few as two at 10-8, but a pair of Ivkovic kills put the Tigers back ahead 14-10.
Patrick then got three kills in five rallies to push the Tigers’ advantage to 21-13. After FSU fought off two match points, Havlicek put away her eight kill of the match to secure the victory.
It’s a quick turnaround as the Tigers (4-2) head to Chicago this weekend for the DePaul Invitational. Auburn will face Illinois-Chicago, Central Michigan and DePaul in the three-day event.
HEAD COACH BRENT CROUCH
“Our offense is really, really good when we’re able to have a really quality first contact. When we get them along the net, we’ve got this really fast set to the middle and a really fast set over the top of it to the outside, and nobody can stop that. The key is just getting balls up there enough, and when we do that, it’s really, really good. I like how we block, and our game plan was to not let their middles go off on us. Their efficiency was good, but they did not get a lot of swings, especially the first two sets. We’re one of the few teams that have taken that away from them.”
MATCH NOTES
-Anastasija Ivkovic (9), Grace Havlicek (8) and Shanelle Puetz (6) all had career-high kills.
-Symone Sims made her first start at libero for the Tigers.
-Freshman Reese Shugart made her first collegiate appearance in the third set.
-Auburn held FSU to minus-.048 hitting in the first set.