Mississippi State
Auburn
Auburn Tigers Top VBall Bulldogs In Straight Sets
October 25, 2009 | Volleyball
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AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn rallied for second and third set wins and went on to register a straight-sets decision (25-14, 25-23, 25- ) over the Volleyball Bulldogs Sunday afternoon at AU's Student Activity Center.
The Tigers (14-8, 6-5 SEC), are a surprising second in the SEC'S Western Division standings and with the win completed the two-match season series sweep of the Bulldogs (5-18, 1-11 SEC).
The Bulldogs led 20-18 in the second set and were tied 19-19 with the Tigers in the third set before bowing.
Sarah Bullock had a match-high 12 kills and Morgan Johns followed with 11 to lead Auburn, which out-hit State .264 to .042 and held a 51-22 edge in kills, MSU's second-lowest kills total of the season. The Bulldogs got nine kills and four blocks from Ashley Newsome. State fashioned an 11-7 edge in total team blocking, including a career high-matching seven assisted blocks by Ioana Demian and five more by Faith Steinwedell.
The Tigers never trailed and were tied just once in taking the opening set 25-14. Auburn raced to a 6-2 lead, extending the advantage to double digits at 19-9 on a combined block by Alyssa Davis and Morgan Johns before Sarah Bullock closed out the set at 25-14 with her sixth kill. Ashley Newsome had three of MSU's five kills in the set.
After falling behind 3-1 top open the second set, State went on a 6-1 run, building out at 7-4 advantage when Faith Steinwedell and Ioana Demian combined to block an attack by Auburn's Kelly Fidero. State twice built its lead out to five points, the last at 19-14. But the Tigers battled back to knot the score at 21-21 and, on their third serve at set point, got a set-winning kill by Morgan Johns for a 25-23 decision. Newsome registered four kills and Demian added three assisted blocks in the set.
MSU and Auburn battled on near-even terms throughout much of the third set, with a kill by Demian knotting the score at 19-19. Auburn regained the lead on a kill by Lauren Mellor and went on to clinch the set and the match with a 25-21 win.
Mississippi State resumes SEC competition at the Newell-Grissom Building this weekend, hosting South Carolina Friday at 7 p.m. (CDT) and 18-time defending SEC champion Florida Sunday at 1 p.m. (CST).
Sunday's match will be televised live regionally on Comcast Sports Southeast.
