AUBURN, Ala. – The No. 18 Kentucky volleyball team scored the final three points of the match to cap a rally from a 2-0 deficit to take down Auburn in a five-set thriller, 23-25, 22-25, 26-24, 30-28, 15-12.
UK improves to 18-5 overall and 11-1 in the Southeastern Conference. Auburn drops to 13-12 overall and 7-5 in league play. The Wildcats will return home for a match with Missouri at Noon ET in Memorial Coliseum on Sunday.
“This game showed our never-die attitude and I think this team is unfazed by situations,” head coach Craig Skinner said. “We will continue to believe in each other and fight for each other. Tonight was a great match to show that.”
Auburn pushed UK to the limit, taking the first two sets from the Wildcats and forced the third and fourth set past 25 points. The Wildcats were down 27-26 in the fourth set facing elimination, but an incredible dig from junior Ashley Dusek helped UK survive two free balls to earn a point on an attack error.
Dusek tied her season-best with 27 digs during the five-set win, and hit the 1,000 dig mark for her career. Dusek sits fifth in school history during the 25-point rally scoring era with 1,025 digs. Five Wildcats – freshman Leah Edmond, senior Anni Thomasson, sophomore Olivia Dailey, sophomore McKenzie Watson and Dusek – all had double-digit digs during the contest
Edmond hit the double-digit mark for kills for the 19th time this season and led the squad with 20 kills. The Lexington, Kentucky native picked up her seventh double-double of the season, a team-high with 12 digs and the 20 kills.
Dailey earned another double-double as she registered 45 assists and 10 scoops in the win. The double-double is her third of the season.
Junior Kaz Brown was fantastic at the net as she picked up nine block assists and one block solo, which tied her season-best at 10 blocks. The Waterloo, Iowa native also added nine kills and two digs in the contest. Classmate Darian Mack chipped in with nine kills and six blocks. Junior Emily Franklin had seven kills and a trio of blocks, while senior Sharay Barnes contributed five kills and two blocks.
Serving errors played a major role in the contest. The two teams combined for 42 errors during the contest, and Auburn committed 25 of those.
Set 1
Auburn picked up the five of the first six points in the match and put the pressure on UK early. Auburn went up 9-3 and forced a UK timeout. After the timeout, Kentucky regrouped and got a point back on block from Brown and Mack. After the Tigers answered, UK rattled off three-straight points to cut the lead to 10-7. The set went back-and-forth until Auburn earned a 16-11 lead. UK went on another 3-0 run which was capped by a Franklin kill to make the set 16-14. Edmond was able to get the set tied at 18-18, and no team could get above a one-point lead until Auburn took set point, 25-23. Dusek had six digs in the set and reached the 1,000 milestone in her career.
Set 2
Kentucky started with the set’s first point and the squads went back-and-forth early on. UK gained some space on Auburn at 7-3 from a block by Mack and Brown. When UK had an 8-5 advantage, Auburn rattled off four-straight points to gain a 9-8 lead. Kentucky would retake the lead at 11-10 from an Edmond kill and hold it until Auburn took a 17-16 lead. The match would go seesaw until Auburn pulled ahead, 24-21. Brown earned a kill to cut the lead to two, but Auburn would win the set 25-22.
Set 3
Franklin started the set with a kill. Much like the first two sets, neither team could find separation. Up 7-5, UK rattled off three-straight points, capped by a Dailey service ace, to take a 9-5 lead. The Tigers would respond with a 5-0 run of its own which forced a UK timeout. Out of the timeout, Kentucky picked up a kill from Edmond and an attack error to retake the lead at 13-12. The two teams would trade points until the score was 18-18. The Tigers scored two-straight and UK would answer with three straight. Auburn was able tie the set at 24-24 before kills from Edmond and Thomasson gave UK the third set.
Set 4
Every set was close, and the fourth set was no different. No team took more than a two-point lead in the stanza. Auburn took the lead at 25-24, and Kentucky responded with a Mack kill. UK took the lead with an attack error. The Tigers responded with two points of their own to retake the lead, 27-26. After Dusek saved the match with a dig, Kentucky won the set 30-28 with an Edmond kill.
Set 5
UK started the final set on a 3-0 run capped by an Auburn attacking error. The set went back-and-forth until Kentucky took the final four points of the set. Edmond, Brown and Mack all picked up kills to make the set 14-12 and Edmond won the match on a service ace.
BY THE NUMBERS
1,025 – Career digs from junior Ashley Dusek who matched a season high with 27 scoops
20 – Match-high kills from freshman Leah Edmond
10 – Blocks from junior Kaz Brown, matching a season best
3 – Double-doubles on the year for sophomore setter Olivia Dailey
2 – Sets the Wildcats overcame to win the match
Auburn
AUBURN, Ala. – It was a battle for points Friday night in Auburn Arena as the Auburn volleyball team fell in a 3-2 (23-25, 22-25, 26-24, 30-28, 15-12) match to No. 18 Kentucky. The loss moved the Tigers to 13-12 overall and 7-5 in SEC play.
“We played hard all the way through,” head coach Rick Nold said. “We knew we had to be the aggressor and at the end, we gave Kentucky too many opportunities and they’re too good of a team to do that. The message to the team after the match was that we need to take something from this and we did some really good things tonight, but couldn’t pull out the win in the end.”
Junior libero Jesse Earl finished with a team-high 25 digs in the match and reached a major milestone in her career, recording her 1,000th dig as a Tiger. Now with 1,025 digs in less than two full seasons at Auburn, she is the fastest Tiger to get to that mark and is the 12th player in program history with 1,000 or more career digs.
Junior setter Alexa Filley recorded her 15th double-double of season, having a season-best 56 assists with 15 digs. She tied a season-high with five blocks in the match. Sophomore Brenna McIlroy finished with 18 kills and a season-best 17 digs for her eighth double-double of the year.
Outside hitter Courtney Crable set a season best on the night, having 16 kills. Middle blockers Macy Reece and Breanna Barksdale chipped in 11 and 10 kills, respectively, while Reece led the Tigers with six blocks.
Kentucky (18-5, 11-1) was led by Leah Edmond with 20 kills and Ashley Dusek with 27 digs. Edmond chipped in 12 digs and setter Olivia Dailey totaled 46 assists and 10 digs. Middle blocker Kaz Brown led all student-athletes with 10 blocks.
Auburn came out firing and pushed an early 5-1 lead in the first. An ace from McIlroy and a kill by Filley made it 9-3 and the Tigers held a solid lead throughout the middle of the set. The Wildcats battled back to tie the set at 18 apiece to force an Auburn timeout and after a handful of sideouts, a kill from Barksdale put AU up 23-22. The Tigers took the set with back-to-back Crable kills, 25-23.
The Wildcats took a 7-3 lead to start the second before a kill from Crable sent the Tigers on a 6-1 run to take a 9-8 lead. Kills from Barksdale and Crable made it 17-16 and a Gwyn Jones /Reece block put Auburn up 21-19. A kill from Earl gave the Tigers set point and AU won the set, 25-22.
UK came out of intermission and jumped ahead 9-5 to open set three. A kill from Filley kick started an Auburn run to put the Tigers up 12-11. The Wildcats capitalized on AU errors late in the set to go ahead 21-19, but the Tigers pushed back and tied it up at 23-all. Auburn held off a pair of UK set points, but the Wildcats pressed for a 26-24 win.
A pair of kills by Reece put the home squad up 9-6, but the visitors responded with a run to tie the set at 12. Another Wildcat rally led to a 15-13 UK lead and a pair of Auburn errors made it 19-16. A handful of Auburn runs locked the set at 21-21 before UK reached set point, 24-22. A kill from Crable and a Wildcat error pushed the Tigers to match point, 25-24, and kills from Reece and Crable put Auburn up 27-26, but UK wouldn’t back down and forced the fifth with a 30-28 victory.
Back-to-back kills by McIlroy made 4-4 in the final stanza and a Barksdale kill followed by a Tate Pember service ace put the Tigers up 6-5. Another McIlroy kill gave Auburn a 12-11 lead, but the Wildcats closed out the set with four-straight points to win 15-12.
The Tigers return to Auburn Arena Sunday, hosting Ole Miss in another Southeastern Conference match. Auburn and the Rebels will face off at 1:30 p.m. CT and admission is free.
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