Mississippi State
4-11, 0-6SEC
Auburn
13-4, 4-3SEC
Tigers Sweep Past VB Bulldogs At Auburn
October 06, 2012 | Volleyball
AUBURN, Ala. - Mississippi State opened its October volleyball schedule with frosty hitting Friday night, dropping a second consecutive straight-sets decision to SEC West rival Auburn (25-11, 25-10, 25-17 ) at AU's Student Activities Center.
The Tigers (13-4, 4-3) limited the Bulldogs (4-11, 0-6 SEC) to season-lows in kills (19) and attack percentage (-.052) in completing a sweep of the two-match season series.
Freshman middle Sarah Nielsen paced MSU with nine kills and had a hand in two of State's three leads in the match. She delivered the first kill of the second set for a 1-0 State advantage and teamed with setter Taylor Hackemack for a block that put MSU up 8-7 in the third stanza.
The Tigers dominated play early on, racing to a 5-0 lead in the opening set and later adding a 7-0 run midway in the stanza en route to a 25-11 win. Sarah Bullock registered four of her match-leading 11 kills in the opening set and duplicated that total in the second set. Katherine Culwell put the finishing touches on the match with seven of her nine kills in the third stanza when the Tigers pulled away from a 10-10 deadlock.
Freshman Taylor Scott had four kills and Lainey Wyman three for the Bulldogs.
Auburn doubled the Bulldogs in kills 38-19, total team blocks 8-4 and digs 50-25.
Bullock took match honors at the net with four total blocks while Wyman had three for MSU. MSU freshman and SEC digs leader Roxanne McVey took match honors with 15 digs. Hackemack, in her first start as the Bulldog setter, finished with 17 assists.
The Bulldogs continue their weekend road run Sunday with a first-time match against SEC newcomer Texas A&M. First serve is set for 3 p.m. (CT) and the match will be televised live by SportSouth.
