Volleyball upsets Florida

[WarTiger 3,909]

Snapped a VERY long losing streak to Florida. Won in 5 sets and came back from down 2-1.

........................................... 1 2 3 4 5 T

11 Florida18-5, 10-4 sec

.................................. ...... 22 25 26 21 16 2

Auburn14-10, 6-6 sec

..................................... 25 16 24 25 18 3

[augolf1716 21,207]

Was just going to post myself WT

AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn volleyball team used a collective team effort to earn a 3-2 (25-22, 16-25, 24-26, 25-21, 18-16) upset over No. 11 Florida Sunday afternoon in Auburn Arena.

The win snapped a 41-match losing streak to the Gators that dates back to 1990. The victory also marked the third win over a nationally-ranked team in the program’s history and the first since 2013 when the Tigers topped No. 10 Nebraska.

“We’ve been playing well lately and playing with a lot of confidence,” head coach Rick Nold said. “We knew we had to be the aggressor today and showed that. We were faced with some tough situations and we fought through them to come out on top.”

“This win was a huge confidence booster,” sophomore Courtney Crable said. “Every single person contributed and we proved to ourselves that we can play with anyone.”

Three Tigers had double-digit kills on the match to power through one of the nation’s top blocking teams. Crable had a stellar day for the Tigers, having 20 kills on 50 attempts with just two errors for a .360 hitting percentage. Freshman Brenna McIlroy added 19 kills, while junior Emily Klitzke finished with 10. Sophomore setter Alexa Filley notched her 14th double-double of the season with a match-high 55 assists and 12 digs.

“We were going against a big block and our hitters did great attacking that block,” Nold said.

The Auburn defense was on point, limiting the Gator offense to a .206 hitting percentage. Sophomore liberoJesse Earl led the charge with 26 digs, while senior Alyssa Ivey and junior Taylor Schill finished with 13 and 10 digs, respectively. Junior middle blocker Breanna Barksdale led the team with five blocks on the day.

The Gators were led by Alex Holston with 19 kills, while Ziva Recek finished with 14 kills, 16 digs and six blocks. Libero Nikki O’Rourke totaled 33 digs for Florida.

Auburn came out firing in set one and pushed ahead for an 8-5 lead. The Gators responded with a 7-0 run to secure a 13-10 advantage. However, kill from Stephanie Campbell sparked a Tiger run that led to a 17-15 lead and a pair of Gator errors gave Auburn a 25-22 win.

Set two saw the teams battling back and forth for a substantial lead until a kill from Barksdale and a Klitzke/Barksdale block pushed Auburn up 10-7. Florida once again responded and pushed ahead at 15-11 and closed out the set on a 5-point run to take it 25-16.

Auburn regrouped at intermission and jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the third set. The Gators utilized a timeout and came out on a run that gave the visitors an 8-6 lead. Florida pressed ahead for a five-point advantage at 15-10, but the Tigers battled back to tie the set at 23 apiece. After exchanging kills, the Gators held on to win 26-24.

The two teams played an even fourth set and opened the stanza with 10 ties and five lead changes. Following a media timeout, kills from Crable and McIlroy lifted the Tigers to a 17-16 lead and another McIlroy kill sparked a 4-0 Auburn run to push the home team ahead at 22-18. A kill from Crable gave the Tigers set point and a Barksdale/Crable block sent the match to the fifth with a 25-21 Auburn win.

Florida took advantage of early Auburn errors in the fifth to go up 5-2. A Crable kill and a Barksdale/Kltizke block pushed the Tigers to a 7-6 lead to force a Gator timeout and a kill from Klitzke set the score at 10-8. Florida battled back to earn match point at 14-13, but a kill from McIlroy and a Gator error gave Auburn its first match point, 15-14. Another McIlroy kill made it 17-16 and the Tigers secured the match with an 18-16 victory.

The Tigers hit the road for a pair of SEC matches next weekend. Auburn heads to Starkville for a 5 p.m. match against Mississippi State, Nov. 13. The Tigers close out the weekend at Alabama, Nov. 14, with a 3 p.m. match.

[WarTiger 3,909]

It's a HUGE win for this program. They are exciting to watch as well. Just looked at their roster and we only have ONE senior on this team. Great things in store for this program, IMO.

[augolf1716 21,207]

I think things are looking up for the V. Ball team. We're 6-6 in the SEC and that is a big improvement over past years.. Great win by the team.

[I_M4_AU 7,857]

Great news, thanks for the update.

[WarTiger 3,909]

Just watched the replay (5th set) and after the match, they showed the Florida bench and that coach was going off on those players.... She was yelling at them. You would think that match cost her her eternal soul or something. Geez....It was ONE MATCH lady...

[autigeremt 6,643]

AUsome job, ladies! War Damn Eagle!

[wareagleguy 1,393]

War Eagle Ladies!

[warladytigers 175]

Just watched the replay (5th set) and after the match, they showed the Florida bench and that coach was going off on those players.... She was yelling at them. You would think that match cost her her eternal soul or something. Geez....It was ONE MATCH lady...

Actually - I thought her head was going to burst - I hate it when coaches to do that - it isn't like anyone plays to lose!

[mustache eagle 2,406]

I thought that was pretty weird. The coach needs to look in the mirror if she wants to get mad at someone ... She should have prepared those ladies better if she thought they vastly underperformed or she could simply congratulate an opponent for a job well done. Instead, she acted like a twit on an opponents floor after a loss. Something I'd expect from a lower level coach.