History will be made Friday as the Tigers play at Auburn Arena for the first time.
"It's exciting," said coach Rick Nold. "Obviously it's a new venue, a beautiful place. It offers us a little different venue for people to come into and see and appreciate here at Auburn."
Nold said the decision was made through the athletic department and was ultimately made because of construction around the Student Activity Center and the Arena being available.
Auburn will play No. 6 Florida for the arena debut.
"We saw them play earlier this year, and they've got a great team and program," Nold said. "We're going to talk a lot, and we just have to play our game. And if we do that, we feel that we can compete."
Senior outside hitter Kelly Fidero said although Florida is a good team, Auburn always seems to play well against them, especially last year.
"We took them to five (sets)," Fidero said. "It was a tight game. Their coach actually made a comment about how we were almost there and no one had taken them that far. I think we have a good chance at them this year."
Last Friday, Auburn had the third-largest crowd in history, which was over the old Student Activities Center's capacity, something Nold is hoping will continue into to this week's match.
"If it's anything like last Friday, it'll be awesome," Fidero said. "Our crowd last Friday was awesome. If we can get the same crowd, we'll be good."
Playing in the arena affords the possibility of having thousands more fans, as its capacity is listed as 9,131 compared to the Student Act's 1,320.
"It's going to be different," Fidero said. "I'm a little nervous. Playing in a new gym is always different, but it'll be fun."
Fidero also pointed out the arena is more spread out than the Student Act, meaning the same-sized crowd wouldn't be as loud.
Sophomore setter Chelsea Wintzinger said the team is going to practice twice in the arena to get a feel of the "bigger atmosphere."
This will mark the first time since 2006 the volleyball team has played outside the Student Activity Center.
Auburn hosted Alabama at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum that year, bringing a crowd of 1,211, which is believed to be the largest crowd of any match outside the primary venue.
Friday also marks Auburn volleyball's first social media night.
"Our general athletic Twitter and Facebook are pretty big now, so we're trying to help the other sports, so they can get out to their target markets because it gives them a chance to go after who they really want to," said Eli Wilkerson, assistant director of marketing for athletics.
Wilkerson said it gives the volleyball program a way to gain more fans and have promotions.
Wilkerson also expressed excitement in the ability to display tweets on the video board after Bradley Green did the same at the UPC fall concert.
Along with a focus on social media, there will be prizes given out throughout the night.
"Our grand prize is going to be an iPod Touch, one of the new ones," Wilkerson said. "We thought it'd fit in well with the theme. Throughout the night we'll do Under Armour stuff we have. We have sweatshirts, autographed items, things like that to build up to it."
As the volleyball program continues to gain fans through promotions, Wintzinger said word of mouth is one way fans are being introduced.
"I've heard from people that they realize volleyball is exciting," Wintzinger said. "And I hope the word gets around and everyone starts coming and starts supporting us."
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