The Auburn volleyball team finished their three game homestand in a match against Texas A&M, losing three sets to one (25-17, 17-25, 25-15, 25-15) on a Wednesday Halloween night at Auburn Arena. The team is now 10-12 overall and 3-9 in the SEC.
Star freshman outside hitter Tatum Shipes, who was named Co-SEC Freshman of the Week, and setter Mica Allison, SEC Setter of the Week, continued their stellar play for the Tigers. Shipes led the team with 11 kills, and Allison contributed 35 assists.
Senior outside hitter Brenna McIlroy added 8 kills and 8 digs for Auburn as well and sophomore middle blocker Anna Stevenson led Auburn with 4 blocks in the game.
Texas A&M (13-11, 6-6 in SEC) was led by star outside hitter Hollann Hans. The junior led both teams with 24 kills and 49 total attacks.
The 1st set featured balanced offense by Aggies with a variety of kills from Hans, Sydnye Fields (7 total kills), London Austin-Roark, and Makena Patterson to pull away from the Tigers 25-17.
The 2nd set featured stronger offensive play from the Tigers, as they relied on McIlroy and junior Gwyn Jones to power the Tigers to win the set 25-17 and tie the game at a set apiece.
The 3rd set Aggies established more offensive dominance, which forced Auburn coach Rick Nold to use lots of timeouts to try to figure out how to slow down Texas A&M. Hans put the Aggies on her back with plenty of attacks and they took a commanding lead in the set to win it 25-15.
The 4th set saw the Aggies go on two separate 3-0 scoring runs to create a 12-7 run early. Eventually the Aggies stormed out to a 9-1 scoring run later in the set. Auburn tried to muster a comeback by cutting the deficit to 8, but the Aggies scored the last two points to end the set 25-15 and win the match.
Next up for Auburn is a road match in Columbia as they travel to face the South Carolina Gamecocks this Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CT.
