The Auburn volleyball team, fresh off its first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament last season, hit the road the past two weekends for tournaments.
Central Florida hosted its second annual Spring Fling Tournament in Orlando March 26 while LSU hosted its LSU Spring Tournament April 2.
Auburn competed in six matches in Orlando in the 15-team tournament.
The Tigers defeated both Florida State and South Florida 2-0 and tied with Miami, 1-1.
Auburn also tied against host UCF and Flagler, but fell 2-0 (25-23, 25-23) to SEC rival Florida.
"It is always good to play as many high level opponents as possible during the spring and put our players in a position to grow and learn the responsibility of their roles," said associate head coach Jozsef Forman.
"This year, five seniors will graduate, and it is great to see how fast this new team is growing and building confidence through our practices and tournaments."
During the Orlando tournament, the Tigers used three different lineups, giving many of the nonstarting players some court time.
"We've been doing really well in practice, and these past two weekends gave us a chance to see how we stood against other teams early in the year," said outside hitter Katherine Culwell. "We all got a lot of playing time and grew much closer to each other.
"I'm really excited about where we are headed."
At LSU, Auburn defeated Southern Mississippi twice and also defeated Louisiana-Lafayette, Nicholls State, Southeastern Louisiana and Southern by scores of 2-0.
The Tigers fell to LSU in both matches.
"It was fun to watch how the team responded, battled and grew under pressure," said assistant coach Edgard da Gama e Silva. "We were also pleased with our enthusiasm, discipline and attitude that we represented on the court. "
The Tigers return to practice before traveling to Murfreesboro, Tenn., Saturday for a tournament hosted by Middle Tennessee State.
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