KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State volleyball team could not put the final nail in Auburn's coffin Tuesday night as the Tigers rallied to win in a grind-it-out five-set match, 23-25, 20-25, 28-26, 26-24, 15-9, at the Convocation Center.
The loss snaps a 15-match home-winning streak for the Owls.
How it happened: The battle between the Owls (6-4) and Auburn (6-3) began early as the Tigers went up 6-3 following a 5-0 run in the first set. KSU eventually answered with a 5-0 run of its own to re-take the lead 13-11. Auburn pulled to within one, 21-22, but the Owls were able to hold the Tigers off to win the opening set, 25-23.
In the second set, both squads went point-for-point once again until a kill from freshman
Dani Ballou sparked a 7-0 run to give the Owls an 18-12 lead. KSU used the six-point advantage to cruise to a 25-20 second set victory.
Out of the intermission, the Owls jumped out to a 7-2 lead, but Auburn answered with a 7-0 run to put themselves ahead, 9-7. Both squads continued to trade points in a set that saw 13 ties and seven lead changes, heading down to the wire. The Owls and Tigers each fought off set points tied at 26. Auburn would go on to win the set, 28-26, following back-to-back errors by KSU.
Deadlocked throughout most of the fourth set, KSU managed to tie the match at 20 after a quick 3-0 run. The Owls fought off two set points to keep the set level, 24-24, forcing an Auburn timeout. The Tigers' Shaina White came out of the timeout to record back-to-back kills, tying the match at 2-2 following the 26-24 set victory.
The Owls could not find their groove in the deciding set, committing five errors in the opening minutes to give Auburn a 6-2 advantage. KSU rallied to within two, 11-9, but Auburn closed out the match on a 4-0 run to record the victory.
Notes: The Owls committed 30 errors in the match, the third time this season they have committed 30 or more. The other two times were against Pitt and Washington … as a team, the Owls recorded season-highs in kills (64), assists (60), and digs (74) …
Lauren Chastang recorded a career-high 19 kills, marking her eighth straight match with 10 or more kills … Chastang finished with a double-double (19 kills, 10 digs), her third straight double-double performance and sixth of the season …
Quin Sutphin also had a career night with 15 kills, her first career match with double-digit kills … freshman
Dani Ballou reached double-figures for the first time in her career, finishing the match with 10 kills on .208 hitting … fellow freshman
Jasmine Brown was a huge spark for the Owls, coming into the fourth set and recording five kills on five swings. She finished the match with five kills on six attacks for a .667 hitting percentage … four Owls finished the match with double-digit digs,
Karlee Groover (19),
Bri Becerra (16), a career-high,
Karla Radillo (11), a season-high, and Chastang (10) …
Lexi Broadwater finished the match with 46 kills, the fourth time in the last five matches she has recorded 40 or more assists.
Quotes: Head Coach
Keith Schunzel
On the team's up-and-down play…
"We're a team searching for a new identity right now, unfortunately for the second time since the beginning of August. And it's my job to help guide this team to find what that is with the players we have available to play. We're still a really good ball club, with plenty of really good players, but we completely gave one away tonight, which is very hard to stomach. We'll grow from tonight and keep moving forward.
On the underclassmen's play…
"I was really happy with our young players tonight who, for the most part, played relaxed, aggressive and loose and did a lot of great stuff."
Up Next: The Owls close out their non-conference schedule with three matches in Troy, Ala., this weekend. KSU opens tournament play against Florida A&M Friday at 12 p.m., before squaring off against hosts Troy in the nightcap at 7:30 p.m. KSU's final match of the weekend is slated for Saturday at 2 p.m., against Jacksonville State.
