After two tough road losses at the hands of Arkansas and Kentucky, the Auburn volleyball team returned home Oct. 5 and quickly dispatched the visiting Mississippi State Bulldogs in three straight sets, improving its record to 13-4 (4-3 in SEC).
Senior Sarah Bullock continued her run of successful play, leading the dominant Tigers with 12 kills.
Junior Katherine Culwell recorded nine kills to go along with a match-leading nine digs.
"Our mindset was to take care of business," Bullock said. "After coming off of two straight losses, we worked really hard this week in practice on improving our game. We were focused more this week on our energy, cutting down mistakes, serving aggressively, winning the serve and pass game... we put more emphasis on improving us this week, and it showed."
\0x1FThe rest of the scoring opportunities were spread out amongst the rest of the Auburn roster as nine different Tigers registered points in the dominating win.
Head coach Rick Nold said after the match he was pleased with his team's balanced attack.
"Sometimes we get in the habit of throwing a lot of balls outside, but we've got to get more people involved," Nold said. "It's something that we will continue to work at, try to get better at as the year goes on. We want to refine our offense so we can attack different teams in different ways. We got a chance to show that tonight."
Auburn jumped out to an early 8-2 lead before Mississippi State called its first timeout.
By the time Mississippi State called its second timeout, Auburn was on a 7-0 run and leading 16-5.
\0x1FThe Tigers forced an astonishing 10 Bulldog attack errors and registered 12 kills en route to a commanding 25-11 first-set victory.
The Tigers would take an even larger victory in set two as they raced past the visitors 25-10.
\0x1FThe 15-point differential is Auburn's largest margin of victory this season.
\0x1FThe Tigers' balanced attack combined for a .400 hitting percentage with four Tigers scoring multiple kills.
Mississippi State tried to inch back late in the set, but Auburn's Chloe Rowand quickly sent the match to intermission with two powerful kills.
\0x1FThe visiting Bulldogs looked energized following the break, and they hung with the Tigers through the first half of the final set.
However, Auburn broke away at the halfway point, rallying around Culwell, who scored seven of her nine total kills in the final set.
The Tigers kept the energy up following a Mississippi State timeout, scoring 10 of the final 14 points to finish off their division rivals.
"I think it was important to come back and respond after last weekend," Nold said. "Mississippi State got us both times last year, so it's good to see the improvement we've made this season.\0x1F They're struggling a little bit right now, and we were able to take advantage."
Auburn continued its undefeated streak at home in 2012, improving to 6-0 at the Student Activities Center this season.
It was a rare one-match homestand for the Tigers, as the team got an extra day off by not having to play the usual Sunday match.
"(\0x1FThe break) is good for us," Culwell said. "We'll have three full days of practice next week before going out on the road. We usually only get two days of practice before traveling, so having this extra day is great."
The win over Mississippi State put the Tigers above .500 in divisional play, and the Tigers are now third in the SEC West behind Texas A&M and Arkansas.
\0x1FThe win was crucial for Auburn because of the team's recent struggles against SEC opponents.
Of the team's four losses this season, three have come at the hands of conference opponents with the only non-conference loss coming at Wichita State.
Auburn will only play SEC opponents for the remainder of the season.
\0x1FThe team now looks to carry its momentum on the road as it takes on Georgia in Athens Oct. 12 and nationally ranked Florida in Gainesville Saturday, Oct. 14.
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