Auburn Volleyball

[slot canyon 1,333]

Auburn easily defeated Alabama A&M last night in 3 straight sets.  Our top player (Rath) did not play.  Closest set was 25 - 14.  Play in UAB Tournament this weekend beginning Sept 9th vs UAB (3 - 3).  Then on successive days vs Troy and North Florida. Good opportunity for us B'ham area folks to support the team.  I know they would appreciate the support.

[slot canyon 1,333]

First off, I don't know much about the sport of volleyball but enjoy watching some of the matches.  Attended the AU-UAB game last night at UAB Bartow Arena.  The link from AU Volleyball will follow.  Rebekah Rath did not play for 2nd straight game.  Her presence would have made a difference.  She is our best and most experienced player.  Our lineup is dominated by freshmen.  AU ended up winning a 5 set match with close sets throughout.  In the first set especially, UAB dropped in numerous soft shots over our blockers.  Auburn seemed to adjust defensively as the game progressed.  Looking at the stats for the game what appears to stand out was we committed 17 fewer errors and had 10 more blocks than UAB.  In the last set, Auburn appeared to have great energy and won 15 - 7.  AU plays Troy at 2 PM today.

https://auburntigers.com/news/2022/9/9/volleyball-anderson-and-co-battle-past-blazers-in-five.aspx

 

 

 

[slot canyon 1,333]

AU remains undefeated by beating Southern Miss 25-23, 25-21 and 25-21.  Currently 9-0.  Rebekah Rath has not played since the end of August.  We play two matches tomorrow, Jackson State at 10 AM and Jacksonville State at 6 PM (ESPN+). 

[blakem 296]

1 hour ago, slot canyon said:

AU remains undefeated by beating Southern Miss 25-23, 25-21 and 25-21.  Currently 9-0.  Rebekah Rath has not played since the end of August.  We play two matches tomorrow, Jackson State at 10 AM and Jacksonville State at 6 PM (ESPN+). 

Rath wasn’t even in the gym today. I’m seriously wondering where she is and why. Jordan Siness was in a boot today.

[slot canyon 1,333]

2 hours ago, blakem said:

Rath wasn’t even in the gym today. I’m seriously wondering where she is and why. Jordan Siness was in a boot today.

I attended two of the games last week and did not see her.  Hope it is not a permanent issue.  If Siness is out that puts us down to 11 players.  

[blakem 296]

5 hours ago, slot canyon said:

I attended two of the games last week and did not see her.  Hope it is not a permanent issue.  If Siness is out that puts us down to 11 players.  

It was 11 bc they tried to scrimmage pre-game and one team had 5 but sinness was serving.

[blakem 296]

5 hours ago, slot canyon said:

I attended two of the games last week and did not see her.  Hope it is not a permanent issue.  If Siness is out that puts us down to 11 players.  

*UPDATE* I checked with a beat writer on another forum and he looked into it and said she left the team and isn’t expected back. That’s a huge loss.

[Mikey 16,577]

8 hours ago, blakem said:

*UPDATE* I checked with a beat writer on another forum and he looked into it and said she left the team and isn’t expected back. That’s a huge loss.

According to the roster, Rath was the only senior on the team. Sad to see a career end unexpectedly.

[slot canyon 1,333]

We beat Jackson State this morning (3-0) and play Jacksonville State at 6 PM.  They are also undefeated.  I am presuming they are the best opposition we have faced to date.  SEC play begins next week vs Bama.  Sorry to hear about Rath.  She was a major threat at the net.  

[slot canyon 1,333]

 

Auburn remains undefeated after a very competitive match vs Jacksonville.  

Set Scores

Team	1	2	3	4	5	F
Auburn	25	25	19	23	15	(3)
Jacksonville St.	19	20	25	25	11	(2)

 

Thought I would post a portion of the game report from the Jacksonville perspective as I thought it was a fair description of what I saw on ESPN+

JACKSONVILLE – In an instant classic in front of a raucous crowd at the Pete Mathews Coliseum, Jacksonville State dropped a heartbreaker in five sets on Saturday night to undefeated Auburn to round out the 2022 JSU Invitational. Despite the setback, several Gamecocks had impressive outings against one of the Southeastern Conference's premier squads.
 
A young but talented Auburn squad took the first two sets with relative ease. The Tigers hit .469 in the opening set to take a 25-19 frame, then downed the Gamecocks 25-20 in the second after allowing JSU to register just nine kills in the entire set.
 
"The first two sets we were a little bit timid," Jacksonville State volleyball head coach Todd Garvey said following the loss. "I think that they wanted to win too badly for the crowd and weren't playing aggressively and it showed.
 
"In the third set, we were a lot more aggressive," Garvey said. "I told them, 'I don't care if we make errors, we've just got to come at them more and be more aggressive.' Even though we missed a lot of serves in the third set, I thought that we were playing a lot looser and freer offensively, and we're at our best when we do that."
 
Their uptick in aggression led to an exhilarating third set. The smothering Gamecock defense held the Tigers to just a .067 hit percentage, and a massive 8-1 run midway through the frame helped JSU claim a 25-19 triumph.
 
Jacksonville State kept their momentum rolling in the fourth set, but Auburn would not go away easily. A tit-for-tat fourth saw the visiting Tigers take a 21-19 advantage late before a timeout calmed down the Gamecocks. After Garvey's discussion with his squad, JSU went on to outscore Auburn 6-2 in crunch time to force a decisive fifth set. 
 
The Gamecocks raced out to an 8-7 lead in the fifth set, but as the two teams swapped sides on the floor, so did the momentum. Auburn rallied to end the set on an 8-3 run, downing Jacksonville State 15-11 and taking the entertaining match in five. 
 
"I'm really happy with the team on how we competed in the third, fourth, and fifth sets," Garvey said. "The fifth set could've gone either way; they got a couple good breaks when they needed to, and I think that was the difference. However, you've got to give credit to Auburn, they played extremely well and deserved the win."

Edited September 18, 2022 by slot canyon

[blakem 296]

Do any of y’all think y’all could find out why Rath left the team. I’m so curious as to what could’ve happened during the season that caused her to leave. I really looked forward to watching her this season.

[slot canyon 1,333]

8 hours ago, blakem said:

Do any of y’all think y’all could find out why Rath left the team. I’m so curious as to what could’ve happened during the season that caused her to leave. I really looked forward to watching her this season.

I would suppose there are a lot of physical, mental or personal reasons why a player might leave.  I noticed today she is no longer listed on the roster.  I believe she was still listed earlier this week.  Her last participation was 8/31 vs Alabama State where she played 3 of 3 sets and had 14 kills.  In the game prior to that (8/27 vs Marist) she played only 2of the 4 sets and had 3 kills which seems very atypical for her.  In game prior to that (8/26 vs GA State) she played 4 of 4 sets with 25 kills.  She was our kills leader prior to her departure.  Her skill and experience is a big loss for this young team and would have made a difference for this season.   

[slot canyon 1,333]

Victory at Alabama today.  I saw about last 15 min. of last set.  AU wins match 3-1.  Set scores (AU/BAMA) 26/28, 25/22. 25/15 and 25/15.  Attack Errors (AU/BAMA) 16/30, Hitting % .285/.118. Block Assist 25/10.  Slaughter had 22 digs and Morton had 19.  Play again tomorrow.

[Mikey 16,577]

Volleyball on TV today. SEC network at 1 O'clock Central time.

[all4AU 379]

Sweep of Bama!!! The ladies won 3 sets to 1 again today and host Miss State Wednesday at 7:00.

[slot canyon 1,333]

Very similar to first Match with exception  BAMA dominated the first set  and AU roared back to win the next 3 sets and  the match

 

Set Scores
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Auburn	16	25	25	25	(3)
Alabama	25	16	14	14	(1)

 

Team Statistics

Team Statistics
Game Stats	AUB	Bama
Kills	47	38
Errors	15	21
Attempts	115	128
Hitting %	.278	.133
Points	64	49
Assists	45	34
Aces	10	7
Blocks	7	4

[Mikey 16,577]

It's amazing, the number of freshman players contributing to the AU team. I'm not familiar enough with volleyball to know how much better they will get but there is bound to be significant improvement as they mature.

I was fun watching them win in Tuskaloser. War Eagle!

[augolf1716 21,109]

Anytime we beat bammer its good.

[slot canyon 1,333]

Just my impression of what I saw.  In the first set BAMA had tons of energy and dominated, while AU appeared a bit confused and unsure of themselves.  In second set AU flipped the switch and took the momentum to easily win the second set just like in the first contest on Saturday.  At that point you have to wonder if BAMA started to wonder "oh no, here we go again" and their worst nightmare became reality.  Hopefully, we can get a good crowd for the Wednesday game vs a good (8-3) Mississippi State team that defeated AU last season 3-0.  However, all of those sets were 2 point victories so it is not like they stomped us.  Game at 7PM on SEC.

[augolf1716 21,109]

This was part of the write up in Auburntigers.com

Aggressive serving from the Tide led to several out-of-system plays for the Tigers. Having difficulty finding a footing, Auburn couldn't seem to find the same momentum it did a day ago.
 
Freshman Bel Zimmerman did her best to keep the Orange and Blue afloat in the first set with four kills on .333 hitting but Alabama's collective .294 effort was too much to overcome.  
 
The Tigers found a way to turn the tide in the second frame, though. Taking the same recipe Alabama used in the first, Auburn tightened up both its serve and receive game.
 
Dialing up five aces, including a pair from sophomore Fallan Lanham, the Orange and Blue were all over Alabama. Simultaneously, keeping Alabama out of system led to a potent offensive punch from the Tigers.
 

[AUBwins 10,075]

Undefeated in Volleyball! What a turn around for that program!

[slot canyon 1,333]

Morton and Scheer "Player of the Week - SEC"

https://auburntigers.com/news/2022/9/26/scheer-and-morton-each-grab-sec-volleyball-player-of-the-week-awards.aspx

[Mikey 16,577]

Beat ranked MSU in five sets tonight. MSU was 25-6 last year and had a number of returning players. AU got a bunch of points off blocks. There was a great crowd and this was a fun game to watch. (I wasn't there, I watched on the SEC TV network) First ever 3-0 start in the SEC, extended team record to 14-0 overall.

[slot canyon 1,333]

Auburn really turned up the heat in sets 4 & 5 to win the match.  Interesting that Anderson will not be 18 until next week.  Difference in game seemed to be we had more blocks and fewer errors.

Write up from the AU Athletic site with about 3 minutes of very good AU highlights:

https://auburntigers.com/news/2022/9/28/auburn-volleyball-fends-off-mississippi-state-in-five-set-thriller.aspx  

[slot canyon 1,333]

Auburn loses competitive match against more experienced LSU team.  Just watching the match, it seemed apparent that Auburn was more error prone than previous matches.

Set Scores
Team	1	2	3	4	5	F
Auburn	22	25	25	21	12	(2)
LSU	25	20	20	25	15	(3)

 

Team Statistics
Game Stats	AUB	LSU
Kills	67	60
Errors	30	23
Attempts	189	183
Hitting %	.196	.202
Points	85	75
Assists	65	57
Aces	5	5
Blocks	13	10