Auburn Knocks Off Mississippi State, 3-2, for First SEC Volleyball Win in Two Years

October 26, 2003

AUBURN - The Auburn volleyball team snapped a 42-match conference losing streak as the Tigers defeated Mississippi State, 3-2 (30-15, 23-30, 30-26, 26-30, 15-10), in Southeastern Conference volleyball action at the Student Activities Center on Sunday afternoon. The win was the first for Auburn since Nov. 5, 2000 over LSU.

"This is a good win for us," AU Coach Laura Farina said. "A lot of people have been talking about the streak and it finally being over. It really wasn't on our minds much, but it's good to win. We gave great effort. We knew it was just a matter of time before ending the streak."

Camila Lago led all players with a career-high 26 kills and added a team-best 16 digs. Brittney Diaz (15), Bailey Veit (14) and Ashlee Johns (11) all had double-digit kills as well while Veit (15), Maira Mogollon (10) and Johns (10) each added double-digit digs. Julie Bosler blocked a career-best 10 Bulldog attacks.

Mogollon finished with 62 assists and five of the team's 13 service aces.

The Tigers cruised to a 30-15 game one victory as Diaz put down four kills in the game. AU jumped on top, 4-1, as Veit, Lago and Johns put down three consecutive kills. The Tigers continued to roll from there, steadily increasing their lead to 15 points at three different times in the game. The Tigers amassed a .346 attack percentage for the game.

The 15 points is the fewest Auburn has ever allowed in a single conference game in school history since rally scoring started.

Mississippi State rebounded to take game two by a 30-23 count as the Bulldogs limited the Tigers to a .176 attack percentage on 51 total attacks.

The Tigers came out of the intermission clicking on all cylinders as AU hit .405 on 42 attacks with 20 kills and just three errors. However, MSU was just as hot as after the match reached 15-15, the two squads traded the next seven points until Diaz aced the Bulldogs, putting the Tigers up 20-19. The trend continued for the next eight points, leading to a 24-24 tie. AU collected the next two points before holding on for the 30-26 win.

Mississippi State would not fold in game four, flip-flopping the previous game's score for the 30-26 win. With the Tigers up 24-21, MSU blocked an Auburn attack and then put down two straight kills to knot the game at 24-24. A Lago kill two plays later again tied the game at 25-25, but the Bulldogs would outscore the Tigers 5-1 down the stretch to send the match to the deciding fifth game.

After falling behind 8-6 at the side change, the Tigers rallied as Diaz put down her 15th kill of the day and Mogollon served up her fifth ace of the day, tying the game at 8-8. An MSU attack error put the Tigers up a point and then a Bosler-Lago block gave the Tigers a 10-8 lead. The Tigers secured the match and game win as Lago and Veit combined for the game-winning block following two Lago kills and a Bosler solo block.

The five-game match was the second in two matches for the Tigers, who dropped a 3-2 thriller to Ole Miss on Friday, and the third time this season AU went the distance in an SEC match. It was also AU's first five-game win since the Tigers outlasted Kentucky on Oct. 20, 2000.