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A spirit that is not afraid

Auburn suffers its second shutout this week

<p>Kendal Kemp (#8) and Florida (#5) fight for the ball during Auburn volleyball versus Florida at Neville Arena on Oct. 26, 2022.</p>

Kendal Kemp (#8) and Florida (#5) fight for the ball during Auburn volleyball versus Florida at Neville Arena on Oct. 26, 2022.

Auburn volleyball hit the road to face Kentucky — another SEC foe at the top of the conference — but the Tigers fell 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-16) on Saturday. 

The Tigers drop to 18-4 this season and their 7-4 conference record allows Georgia (17-5, 8-3) to overtake them for fourth place in the SEC. The loss to the Wildcats is the second straight shutout for Auburn, coming immediately after its home loss to Florida earlier in the week. 

Kendal Kemp’s two blocks on Saturday bring her season total to 119, good to tie Camila Jersonsky's 2012 number for second-most in school history. 

Contributing more big numbers was Akasha Anderson, who finished with a team-high 14 kills throughout the match. Freshman Madison Scheer’s hitting percentage was .286, combined with her eight kills through the three sets. 

At the first set’s halfway point, Auburn was hitting over .300 but the problem with that mark was that Kentucky was clearing it as well. 

Middle blocker Chelsey Harmon had two kills, followed by an ace from freshman Zoe Slaughter to maintain the tie at 12, but that number did not last. Fallan Lanham’s serving was able to snag the Tigers three successive points, but that aggression was met by a Wildcat timeout. 

In that first set, the freshmen continued to contribute as they have all season. Anderson totaled six kills, with Scheer adding four as well. In the end, Kentucky’s hitting percentage in the first set was .516 with no errors and Auburn was unable to pull closer, giving the Wildcats the opening advantage. 

Upon reaching the second and third sets, Kentucky did not trail. 

Again in the second, the Tigers were held off in the middle. A 4-0 scoring run came via blocks from Harmon, Anderson and Bel Zimmerman. Along with those came a pair of aces from liber Sarah Morton, but the Kentucky hitting was just too much. 

Wildcat runs of five and three at the beginning and end, respectively, were timed to kill Auburn's scoring efforts and force them to burn timeouts. 

Harmon was able to add two digs — a match for her season high — in the third set to accompany her five kills from the match. This was the 20th match of the season where Sarah Morton grabbed 10 or more digs. 

With the win, the Wildcats are 13-6 this season, with an 8-2 conference record that is good for second place behind Florida (17-4, 9-2). Georgia's record in the SEC allowed them to slide by the Tigers and leave them in fourth place alongside LSU (13-8, 7-4), the team responsible for Auburn's first loss on Oct. 5.

The Tigers will remain in Kentucky to face the Wildcats again on Sunday, Oct. 30 in an effort to avoid a third consecutive shutout. 

Following this road trip, Auburn has just four SEC opponents on the schedule: two matches against Texas A&M at home, a single match at Ole Miss followed by another at South Carolina before two home matches against Arkansas. 


Callie Stanford | Sports Editor

Callie Stanford, junior in communications, is the sports editor at the Auburn Plainsman. Currently a junior, she has been with The Plainsman since January 2021.

Twitter: @Stanford1Callie


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