Completing a feisty and competitive match, the Tigers rallied in five sets to earn their first win of the season against Kennesaw State on Tuesday night in Auburn Arena.
Auburn came into the game having lost their first three matches of the season and was eager to get that first win. They won the first set fairly easily by a score of 25-18, letting a few points up at the end.
“It feels so good [to get our first win] especially because that team was talking a lot of mess” junior Libero Kelly Stewart said.
“It feels good," Auburn head coach Rick Nold said. "It was a really hard fought match. We know Kennesaw State is a really good team they have proven that. We wanted to make sure we were competing all the way through (and we did when) they got some leads on us and I thought we responded and fought back.”
The Owls of Kennesaw State were able to gain momentum late in the first set and win a close second set 25-21.
Coming out of intermission, Auburn seemed outmatched. The Owls won convincingly 25-15 and headed into the fourth set leading 2-1.
After a slow start in the fourth Auburn and KSU began to trade blows. In a fast tempo, high energy set the Tigers were able to squeeze out a victory, 28-26.
Riding the momentum from the wild fourth set the Tigers cruised to a victory in the fifth set 15-10.
Senior Emily Klitzke tallied 16 kills which proved to be the most on the team while junior Jesse Earl lead the team in digs with 26.
The Tigers get their first road test this weekend against Louisville and Nold hopes that they are able to learn from this game and apply it in the future.
“We’ve got to understand that this is who we need to be,” Nold said. “We’ve got to be a team that fights and that is scrappy. We have depth and different people who can step up at different times but as a group I think this is the first team we’ve really fought together and we need to keep working on that.”
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