Auburn Thumps SEC Rival Georgia In Straight Sets

MATCH STATS

• Auburn Defeats Georgia (25-11, 25-16, 25-19)
• Team’s Record: Auburn (10-10), Georgia (13-7)
• Schedules: Auburn here, Georiga here

RECAP

The Auburn Tigers hosted the Georgia Bulldogs and took full advantage of the home crowd, winning convincingly in three straight sets. The Tigers recorded their best hitting percentage of the season (.367), and surpassed the Lady Bulldogs in kills (42-28), blocks (12-8), digs (40-35), assists (39-27) and aces (3-2). Impressively, Auburn was also able to minimize their errors, having only 9 to Georgia’s 21.

The Tigers were led by Freshman Gwyn Jones, who had 12 kills (.474) and 3 blocks. Their offense was balanced, with Breanna Barksdale, Macy Reece and Enija Bidzane all drumming 7 kills apiece. Reece also notched four blocks to contribute on defense, while Alexa Filley had 12 digs to go along with her 29 assists.

On the other side of the net, Georgia struggled to get anything going on offense. None of their players had more than 6 blocks, although Majesti Bass had a strong attack percentage (.750). Bass had 6 kills, as did Maddie Lobenstein. Other team highlights were Cassidy Anderson, who led the Lady Bulldogs in digs with 14, and Meghan Donovan, who led in assists with 23.

Up next, Auburn will face Mississippi State on Sunday, October 16th, at 12 p.m. CT. Georgia, on the other hand, will have several days off to sharpen their form before taking on a strong Texas A&M squad on Friday, October 21st.

PRESS RELEASES

Courtesy of Auburn Athletics:

AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn volleyball team used an efficient, effective attack to earn a 3-0 (25-11, 25-16, 25-19) sweep of Georgia Wednesday night in Auburn Arena. The win gave Auburn its sixth-straight home win over the Bulldogs.

The Tigers (10-10, 4-3 SEC) hit a season-best .367 as a team, having 42 kills with just nine errors on the night. Auburn held the Bulldogs to an .076 clip, the lowest by an Auburn opponent this season. I think we came out really aggressive in serving and put them out of system a lot, which was one of our goals tonight,” head coach Rick Nold said. “We handled the ball really well and that let our offense spread out a lot. Every win is big at this point of the season, but this one will really bring out confidence.”

Freshman Gwyn Jones finished with 12 kills and a .474 attack percentage, adding three blocks for Auburn. A trio of Tigers in senior Breanna Barksdale, junior Macy Reece, and freshman Enija Bidzane chipped in seven kills apiece. Reece hit a scorching .875 for the home squad. Junior Courtney Crable added six kills in the match.

Junior setter Alexa Filley had her 11th double-double of the season, finishing with 29 assists and 12 digs. Bidzane set a career-high with 10 digs and junior libero Jesse Earl also put together a 10-dig performance. Reece had a hand on four of Auburn’s seven team blocks.

Georgia (13-7, 1-6 SEC) had two players with six kills in Maddie Lobenstein and Majesti Bass. Libero Cassidy Anderson led all student-athletes with 14 digs.

A five-point run in set one led to a quick 7-2 advantage for Auburn and a kill from Barksdale sent the Tigers on a 9-1 run for a 16-5 lead. A kill by Jones followed by a handful of Bulldog errors made it 23-9 and Crable sealed the set with a kill, 25-11.

Auburn continued momentum into the second and jumped ahead, 4-1. A kill from Reece and a pair of Reece/Jones blocks highlighted another Tiger rally, pushing the home squad up 13-6. Two more kills from Jones and one by Bidzane lifted Auburn to an 18-10 advantage and the Tigers went to intermission with a 25-16 victory.

Georgia held a slim lead to start set three and pressed ahead at 12-9, forcing an Auburn timeout. The Tigers began to chip away at the Bulldog lead and a kill from Crable sent Auburn on a run to go up 17-15. A solo block and a kill from Barksdale gave the Tigers match point and Auburn took the win, 25-19.

Auburn closes out its homestand with a 12 p.m. CT match vs. Mississippi State. The two teams will square off Sunday, Oct. 16, and the match will be broadcast on SEC Network. The match will be Auburn’s “Dig Pink” event for breast cancer awareness.

Courtesy of Georgia Athletics:

AUBURN, Ala. — The Auburn offense was a tough stop, as the Tigers (10-10, 4-3) took a 3-0 win over Georgia (13-7, 1-6) on Wednesday night.

“Auburn played well tonight,” said associate head coach Josh Lauer. “They did a nice job in their transition game. We came out in the third set and battled them, but we needed to find that consistency earlier in the match. We have a good stretch over the next 10 days to hit the gym and get stronger as a team before being back home at Ramsey.”

Auburn hit .300 or better in each set, led by Gwyn Jones’ 12 kills on .474 attack clip. Georgia posted 28 kills in the contest, as Majesti Bass hit .750 with six kills on eight attempts and no attack errors.

Cassidy Anderson put up a solid effort for the Georgia defense, totaling a match-best 14 digs along with a service ace. The Bulldogs had four team blocks, as Bass, Desiree McCray and Megan Spencer collected two each.

Miscues from the Bulldogs allowed Auburn to run away with the first set 25-11 before the Tigers took the second frame 25-16 after hitting .481. Georgia couldn’t find its rhythm offensively, committing 16 attack errors and five service errors in the opening sets.

Out of the break, Georgia was more aggressive on the offensive end, getting up 13-9 after an ace from Anderson and kill by Maddie Lobenstein. Auburn rallied out of a timeout, knotting it up at 15 apiece before pulling ahead for good en route to sealing the match at 25-19.

Georgia will get some time off from competition, not returning to the court until Friday, Oct. 21 when Texas A&M comes to Athens.