Auburn's volleyball team wrapped up the Active Ankle Challenge with a win and a loss against Winthrop and USF Saturday at Auburn Arena.
The Tigers defeated the Eagles in their first match Saturday 3-2 (26-24, 23-25, 21-25, 17-25, 22-20).
"We've got a competitive group, and they have very high expectations," head coach Rick Nold said. "They want to keep getting better. Each tournament we've played, we have gotten better."
Like both matches, it went to the fifth set.
Auburn recorded a season-high 69 kills, 15 coming from the fourth frame to go to the final frame.
Sophomore Stephanie Campbell had a career high 18 kills, while freshman Courtney Crable added 14 kills to complete her second double-double of the last three matches.
Freshman Alexa Filley had a season-high 55 assists against Winthrop, and 24 digs.
Junior Alyssa Ivey recorded a career-high 24 digs on defense.
The Tigers had nine service aces in the victory.
The night match against USF that concluded the tournament snapped the Tigers' eight-game winning streak at Auburn Arena.
South Florida won the match 3-2 (22-25, 22-25, 33-31, 25-15, 13-15).
"I think we learn something every week, and what we've talked a lot about is we've got to make sure how we start our match," Nold said. "We didn't come out the way we wanted to, and South Florida is a good team. They took advantage of that."
After the Tigers dropped the first two sets to USF, freshman Macy Reese and the Tigers battled to win the third.
"I definitely think the back row of defense played amazing, so that gave Alexa (Filley) more opportunities to make good sets, and we just started working really well as a team," Reese said.
The Tigers appeared to be revived after an intense 3rd frame, and outplayed the Bulls 25-15 in the fourth frame.
"Our defense stepped up and really started getting a hand on every single ball and Alexa (Filley) was making really good decisions on her sets and giving us opportunities to score," Campbell said.
Reese led the Tigers with a career-high 25 kills, including three blocks, two digs and a service ace in the Tigers' loss.
Filley had 55 assists for the second straight match, and tied Ivey for the team-high with 19 digs.
Campbell had 12 kills along with five blocks, while sophomore Emily Klitzke finished with 10 kills and five blocks. As a team, Auburn finished the match with a season-high 18 blocks.
"I think we could have started off a little faster," Campbell said. "We started a little slow. I think one thing we need to work on is starting off right away putting the ball down, being really aggressive and energetic from the get go."
Auburn will face No. 7 Florida State on the road in Tallahassee, Fla., on Tuesday at 5 p.m. CT.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
