MSU Falls At Auburn On Sunday

Sunday, November 19

Auburn, Ala.

1:30 PM

Mississippi State

9-22, 0-16

Auburn

15-10, 8-8

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Mississippi State	13	21	14	0
Auburn	25	25	25	3

Team Celebrates After Set Win Against Missouri (Nov. 17).

November 19, 2017 | Volleyball

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)

AUBURN, Ala. - Even with a relentless effort on the court, Mississippi State fell at Auburn on Sunday at Auburn Arena.

Mississippi State dropped to 9-22, 0-16 in the SEC, while Auburn improved to 15-10, 8-8.

"Auburn won the serve-and-pass battle today by a pretty good margin," third-year coach David McFatrich said. "When you win the serve-pass battle, that's usually the biggest correlation to winning and that's why they won the game. We got it going pretty well in the second set and probably could have won that set, but [Auburn] got on a four-point serving run after we went up 12-11. I liked the way our players bounced back in that second game and we were struggling to control the ball in that third game."

State got on the board first in set No. 1 on a kill by Liv Benner. The frame was back-and-forth until Auburn managed to pull away by scoring seven of the next eight points to win, 25-13. Jelena Vujcin led the Bulldogs with a pair of kills in the set, while Payton Harris had five digs.

The Bulldogs battled back in the second set and kept it close. There were nine ties and eight lead changes. MSU and Auburn matched one another point for point until the Tigers went on a 3-0 run that gave them the lead for good. Brooklyn Lochner and Sara Maddox tied Vujcin for the team lead in the set with 3 kills apiece.

AU quickly mounted a lead in the third and never trailed. However, the Bulldogs battled back to narrow the gap a bit but the Tigers were able to hold on to take the set and the match, 25-14.

Maddox led State with 8 kills in the contest, while Vujcin had 7 and tallied a team-best 8.5 points.

On Wednesday, Mississippi State faces Texas A&M at home for Senior Night. First serve from Starkville is set for 3 p.m. CT on the SEC Network +.

Dawg Bites
- All-time career digs leader Harris earned 9 digs. She now has 1,834 for her career, fifth most in SEC history.
- Lehto earned 2 assists. She now has 174 on the year and is in ninth place for most assists as a freshman.
- Liv Benner earned 2 total blocks. She now has 71 on the year. She is now tied for seventh place for most total blocks as a freshman.
- Maddox has earned 36 attack attempts. She now has 759 on the year and is in sixth place for most attack attempts as a freshman.
- Maddox earned 8 kills. She now has 253 on the year and is in eighth place for most kills as a freshman.
- Gabby Zgunda earned 2 digs and now has 261 for her career. That puts her in 10th place for most digs as a freshman.
-Auburn had 11 service errors, while the Bulldogs had just five in the match.

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