Oct. 27, 2006

Final Stats

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -

The Auburn University volleyball team fell to Alabama, 3-1 (26-30, 30-16, 30-21, 30-16) on Friday at the C.A.V.E. in Tuscaloosa.  The loss splits the season-series, 1-1 between the in-state rivals.  With the loss, AU falls to 12-13 overall and 4-10 in the SEC, while Alabama improves to 14-8 overall and 9-4 in the conference.

Junior Rachel Shanks led the Tigers with 13 kills and 18 digs for her 14th double-double of the season.  Sophomore Joanna Pappas dished out 37 assists and dug nine balls, while junior Whitney Jacob added nine kills and seven digs. 

"It was a bad night," head coach Laura Farina said.  "Our passing game was inconsistent and they picked apart different parts of our game throughout the match." 
 
Auburn jumped out to an 8-4 lead early in game one and stretched that lead to 16-8 with the aide of a 4-0 run.  The Crimson Tide chipped away at the Tiger lead, cutting it to 24-22 and pulling to within one (26-25) before a 4-1 run closed out game one for AU, 30-26.

Alabama came out on fire in game two, taking a 14-3 lead.  Auburn struggled to find its rhythm the rest of the stanza and fell 30-16 in game two, tying the match at 1-1 heading into the break.

After the intermission the Tide held an early four point lead, stretching it to five before the Tigers cut it to two (15-13).  Alabama then went on a 6-0 run to take a 21-13 lead, but would get no closer than six the rest of the way, falling 30-21 in game three.

In game four, the Crimson Tide came out strong once again with a 7-2 run to start the stanza.  Another pair of scoreless runs for Auburn found the team down by 12 (21-9), a deficit they couldn't recover from, as AU fell in game four, 30-16.

Auburn will have a week off before heading back out on the road to face Arkansas and No. 10 LSU.  The Tigers will face the Lady Razorbacks on Friday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. in Fayetteville, and LSU at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 5 in Baton Rouge.