Coming off of their first conference win over Ole Miss last Sunday, Auburn volleyball dropped a tight contest against Georgia on Wednesday evening at Auburn Arena, 3-2.
Set 1 started off strong for the Tigers. They took a quick 7-2 lead on two kills from Brenna McIlroy and one from Anna Stevenson. A kill from Shaina White gave the Tigers a 15-11 lead and forced a Bulldogs timeout.
The Bulldogs took advantage of some Auburn miscues to tie the game 16-16. Auburn kept its momentum and regained the lead, 19-16, with a block from Stevenson and Mica Allison. Georgia made another comeback and tied the game at 24-24. Auburn won the game 26-24.
Set 2 started in the Bulldogs’ favor, with the team taking a quick 7-3 lead. Georgia took a 10-6 lead on a kill from Mallory Hernandez. Georgia won the set 25-15 with a kill from Rachel Ritchie.
“We weren’t handling the ball well,” said Auburn head coach Rick Nold. “We talked about that. As you go through that’s a big part of the game is when your team is scrambling being able to give yourselves good opportunities.”
Auburn took the lead 4-1 in Set 3 with a kill from McIlroy. A kill from T’ara Ceasar and an error by Auburn allowed the Bulldogs to tie the game at 6-6. Auburn regained its lead 11-9 on a kill from Gwyn Jones. Auburn held on to win the set 25-22 with McIlroy’s 13th kill of the match.
Set 4 started off with some back and forth from both teams. The first lead at 9-6 went to Auburn with a kill from Taylor Rowland and an ace from Allison. The Bulldogs tied it back up at 11-11 on a kill from Ceasar. Auburn took back the lead 15-13 after a kill from Rowland.
After several back-and-forth possessions that kept the game tied, Georgia took its first lead of the game, 22-18. Georgia held on to win the set 25-21.
Auburn took the first lead in Set 5, 3-1, on Stevenson’s sixth kill of the night. A big block from Jones forced Georgia to take an early timeout with the score at 4-1.
Georgia tied it at 5-5 on an Auburn error and a kill from Ritchie. Again, it became a back-and-forth battle between the two teams with the first two-point lead since the tie coming for the Bulldogs at 11-9.
Auburn came back to tie the game at 11-11 with a kill from McIlroy. White and Allison combined for a big block to get the Tigers to match point at 17-16 after battling from behind after Georgia was at match point,14-12. Georgia turned the tide back in their favor to take the 18-17 lead. Georgia won the match with a Set 5 win of 20-18.
“I think both teams were making some big plays when it counted,” Nold said.
For the Bulldogs, Ritchie led the team with 25 kills. Ceasar was close behind with 23 of her own. Meghan Donovan, the team’s setter, had 62 assists.
“Outsides really had a big day on us,” Nold said. “They run with a lot of speed, and we struggled with that a little bit.”
On the Tigers’ side, McIlory had 19 kills while both Stevenson and Rowland had nine. Allison had 46 assists.
The Tigers have fallen to 1-4 in conference play. Next, they will face Alabama on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. CST at Auburn Arena.
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.
