The Tigers opened up their fall season Friday night, August 28, against Stephen F. Austin University. The Tigers have won every season opener since 2004.
The Ladyjacks claimed the first two points of the first match, but it wasn’t long before Auburn’s Courtney Crable evened the score with the first kill of the Tigers’ season.
The teams then battled back and forth for the lead staying within three points of each other. However, the Tigers had trouble keeping the ball inbounds, putting them at a larger point deficit until the Ladyjacks were leading, heading towards the first victory of the match. As the Ladyjacks took a strong lead, the Tigers made their way back to even and then took the lead by two. From there, the Tigers successfully executed three spikes with the help of Brenna McIIroy to pull through, winning the first match 25-22.
The second set mirrored the first starting out, with the Ladyjacks taking the first lead by two until the Tigers caught up soon after. Auburn then took a two-point lead after the Ladyjacks struck the ball out of bounds, but once again, the teams battled it out shortly trailing one another, until the Ladyjacks secured the lead 25-21.
Turning things around, the Tigers started off the third set with a two-point lead over the Ladyjacks. Although Stephen F. Austin took the lead a few times throughout set three, the Tigers bounced back quickly to reclaim the top spot every time. Racking up the points, the Tigers took the largest lead of the match at 20-14. After that, it didn’t take long for Auburn to execute the last five points for the victory, 25-18. In this match, McIIroy reached a game-high of 10 kills, and Alexa Filley collected her 18th career double-double with 27 assists and 11 digs.
The fourth set put the Tigers on top first with three consecutive spikes on the Ladyjacks. The Ladyjacks soon after rallied to even the score at five and the close play continued. With three points to a set victory, the Ladyjacks secured the win with out-of-bounds errors against Auburn, 25-18.
Going into the fifth set, the Tigers and Ladyjacks both scored one after the other, but the Tigers soon took the lead. The teams stayed within a two-point deficit of each other throughout the set, but Auburn kept the lead steady and took the match victory 14-9, winning 3-2 of five sets.
The Tigers will continue play Saturday at noon against Jacksonville University.
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