Following an 0-3 loss to the 20th ranked Tennessee volunteers, the Auburn Tigers (10-4, 2-2 SEC) came back to the Auburn area to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide (8-8, 0-4 SEC) not once but twice, in the same weekend.
The first game on Saturday was a complete thriller ending in a 3-2 Auburn win with the Tigers winning the final set 15-5. Auburn actually had less kills than the Tide with only 54 to Alabama’s 61, but that did not stop Auburn’s Rebekah Rath as the kill leader for the game with a whopping 22 kills. Tatum Shipes was able to record 12 total blocks as she was the block leader for the Tigers. The Crimson Tide's kill leader Shaye Eggleston finished the day with 17 kills while the Tide did not have a lot of blocks as Shayne Eggleston, Kendyl Reaugh, and Kennedy Muckelroy all combined for each of the Tide’s 5 blocks.
The game on Sunday was not quite as exciting depending on how you look at it as the Tigers swept the Tide 3-0 with the last set ending at a score of 25-18. The Tigers were able to score more kills this time with the team totaling 40 kills over the course of the 3 set game while the Tide only got 32. The Tigers also beat the Tide on blocks 11-1. Rebekah Rath was again the Tigers kill leader scoring 16 in this game which brings her total across the weekend to 38. Drawing another parallel to last night Tatum Shipes also had the most blocks Sunday as well with 7, bringing her total to 19 for the weekend. Alabama had a tie for the most kills with Shayne Eggleston and Chaise Campbell both having 7 on the day, while Kenndy Mucelroy got the Tides sole block.
The Tigers hope to carry this momentum into a road trip going to play in Razorback Country the October 9 at 3:00 and October 10 at 1:00, as the Tigers hope to continue up the SEC rankings in which they currently sit 8th behind the Razorbacks in 7th. But for now the Tigers are due for a celebration as they accomplished two things, got their first two SEC wins, and perhaps most importantly, beat Bama.
