AUBURN, Ala. – Staring down another 2-1 match deficit, the LSU volleyball team was able to force a fifth set for the second time in three days, but unfortunately the Tigers would not be able to pull out the win on Sunday, falling to the Auburn Tigers in five 22-25, 25-16, 25-22, 17-25, 15-6 inside Auburn Arena.
The Tigers (6-9, 2-2 Southeastern) would be unable to match the effort it had on Friday, hitting just .149 as a group with 46 kills, while Auburn (10-5, 2-1) ended the match with 63 kills and a .177 clip to earn the victory after dropping the first set to LSU.
After her record-setting performance two days ago, sophomore outside hitter Gina Tillis finished the match leading all players with 20 kills, earning a double-double with 11 digs and a service ace. The Rockwall, Texas, native had nine kills in the third set alone, finishing as the only LSU player with double figure kills for the second straight match.
Senior middle Emily Ehrle had nine kills and hit .320 with two digs and a solo block, having a kill in all sets but the fifth. Cheyenne Wood served up 23 assists and had four digs and a kill, while Lindsay Flory chipped in 15 assists to go along with two kills, a block and a dig.
Senior defensive specialist Haley Smith tied her career-high and led all players with 30 digs, finishing as one of four players with double-digit digs. Cati Leak and Katie Lindelow each finished with 19 along with Tillis’ 11. Toni Rodriguez led the match with five blocks, including having three of the team’s six on the solo front, adding five kills and three digs.
Courtney Crable had 13 kills to lead Auburn, followed by Stephanie Campbell and her 10. Alexa Filley had 43 assists and 20 digs for the double-double, while Breanna McIlroy had 22 digs to lead the team in the win for Auburn.
The Tigers couldn’t have asked for a better start to the match than the one they got in the opening set, finishing the set with 12 kills led by Tillis’ six kills and .214 clip. Auburn was hitting in the negatives for most of the set before finishing with a .026 average as a group, hitting into 10 errors, including three Tiger blocks.
After six ties and two lead changes within the first 12 points of the match, the Tigers went up two thanks to a Tillis kill and solo Flory block to earn the team’s first multi-point advantage of the day at 8-6. That quick burst would allow LSU to get some separation from the opposition, eventually leading by three up 15-12.
However, Auburn would not make the rest of the match that easy, scoring three of the next four to pull within one at 16-15, but not before the Tigers went on a run of their own netting five of the next six to take a 21-16 lead. By that point it seemed like LSU would cruise to the set win, getting to set point leading by five, but Auburn fended off the squad’s attempt to close three times before LSU called a timeout to settle the group, getting that point on the next play on an unforced Auburn error to win 25-22.
The second set was the exact opposite of the start the team had to open the match, watching as Auburn took the first three points before going on to lead 7-2. At 8-3, the Tigers went on the offensive, rattling off six-straight to take its first lead of the set at 9-8. Unfortunately for LSU the lead would be short-lived as Auburn got the next two to go up 10-9, as after a service error to knot the set at 10, earned the next four after that to go up 14-10 and force LSU into a timeout.
LSU wouldn’t be able to go on another big rally, as the team would burn its final timeout down 18-12 in the middle of what ended up being a 9-1 swing for Auburn to go up 23-13, eventually going on to win the set 25-16. The Tigers finished the set hitting in the negatives with four kills to five errors, while Auburn regrouped to hit .333 with 16 kills.
After struggling offensively the set before, the Tigers regrouped finishing with 11, led by Ehrle’s four on eight errorless attempts. The match showed as third featured the most ties and lead changes at 10 and four, as Auburn finished with 17 kills, their most on the night up until that point.
It was much of the same for LSU to start the third as Auburn raced out to a 4-0 lead and went up 5-1 as the Tigers fell behind for the second consecutive set. And just like the previous set, the Tigers rallied, turning a 6-3 deficit into a 6-6 draw thanks to three straight kills from Ehrle to power the streak. After some jousting, an attack error and kill from Tiara Gibson gave the Tigers a 12-10 advantage.
However, after going up 14-12 after a Leak kill, Auburn scored three to go into the media timeout leading 15-14, getting a kill right out of the break to make it 16-14. LSU battled to tie, setting off a string of draws from that point on, until the 20-all knot as Auburn scored the next three points to go up 23-20 forcing LSU into using both of their timeouts. An attack error and Wood service ace pulled LSU within one, but that would be it as Auburn got the next two to take the 2-1 match lead, winning 25-22.
Simply, LSU played like a team on the brink and did not leave the fourth to chance, hitting .351, its highest clip of the match, earning 16 kills to only three errors and was 14-for-18 on sideouts.
Now three sets into the match, LSU refused to account for another bad start to a set, forging into the fourth by expounding on a one-point advantage and turning it into six, leading 8-2 and forcing Auburn into an early timeout after a 5-0 run. The Tigers’ largest lead would be six during the early stages of the set, eventually going up 15-8 as Auburn called its second timeout of the frame to try and stop the onslaught.
By that point, LSU was running at maximum efficiency and Auburn was left searching for answers unable to call a break in the action during its course. The Tigers went up as many as eight and what few points Auburn could muster didn’t stop LSU from going on to take the fourth 25-17 and force a deciding fifth set.
Auburn set the tone by taking the first two points of the fifth, as after a Leak kill, got another point to make it 3-1. An Auburn attack error made it 3-2, but that unforced error by the home team would be the last for a while as they earned the next seven in a row to go up 10-2 and force LSU into both of its timeouts. In all the run would be eight, as LSU finally broke the rally, but the deficit would be too much in the end, dropping the fifth 15-6.
LSU will be back in action on Wednesday night, hosting the Tennessee Volunteers at 8 p.m. inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The match will be televised live on ESPNU.
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