After playing in the Blue Raider Bash over Labor Day weekend, the Auburn women's volleyball team is moving forward to play in another talent-filled tournament this weekend.
The C of C Classic will pit Auburn against Oregon State, College of Charleston and Cincinnati; however, the team hopes to take its experiences from this past weekend to help them at the C of C Classic.
"We are learning from this weekend, and the things we need to work on will be much better next weekend," said Katherine Culwell, an outside hitter and finance major.
The Tigers, who now have a record of 6-2, lost to Duke and Miami in three sets at the Blue Raider Bash, but bounced back to defeat Middle Tennessee and Southern Miss.
Another area the team hopes to improve in is closing its matches.
"We would be up by a whole lot of points, and we just couldn't close out the games," Culwell said. "We still need to work on keeping the focus throughout the whole game and match."
Auburn, 2-2 at the Blue Raider Bash, had an emotional game with Middle Tennessee, defeating them in five close sets (24-26, 25-18, 18-25, 25-23, 15-10).
"The overall highlight was beating Middle Tennessee because they are a really good team," said Sarah Bullock, pre-business major and outside hitter.
With the C of C Classic around the corner, the Tigers face some tough competition in Oregon State, 3-4, College of Charleston, 5-2, and Cincinnati, 6-1.
"Cincinnati and College of Charleston are probably top 50 teams, and Oregon State is in the Pac-10," said coach Wade Benson. "If we went 2-1, we'd be happy, but 3-0 would be an excellent achievement for us."
Auburn could face challenges from College of Charleston outside hitter Whitney Russell, who was recently selected as Southern Conference Offensive player of the week, and from Cincinnati's intimidating 6-1 record.
Also, Oregon State has shown impressive blocking skills, with only 12 errors and 117 block assists, compared to Auburn's 22 block errors and 81 block assists.
While next weekend will be highly competitive, the Tigers remain confident in their passing skills, which were evident at the Blue Raider Bash.
"Our passing is really on its game," Culwell said. "We've been working a lot on that."
This tournament will be the Tigers' last opportunity to gain extra experience before tough conference matches against LSU and Arkansas.
Auburn will play in Charleston, S.C., against Oregon State Sept. 10 at 3:30 p.m., followed by College of Charleston at noon and Cincinnati at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 11.
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