| volleyBALL RESULTS |
Auburn 3, Alabama A&M 0
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Samford 3, Alabama 2
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Cincinnati 3, Kentucky 0
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Oral Roberts 3, Arkansas 2
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Florida 3, Florida State 0
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Auburn Crushes Alabama A&M 3-0 in Home Opener
AUBURN – The Auburn volleyball team got a season-high 10 kills from senior Kelly Fidero and held Alabama A&M to a negative hitting percentage in a 3-0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-16) victory Tuesday night at the Student Activities Center.
Auburn (2-1) hit .286 for the match and had 41 total kills, compared to 12 kills and a -.063 hitting percentage for Alabama A&M (1-4). It was the Tigers’ sixth win in their last eight home openers and improved the team to 20-6 all-time in their first match at home. In addition, Auburn improved to 6-0 all-time against Alabama A&M.
Fidero had Auburn’s first double-digit kills game of the season, putting down 10 balls on 18 attempts with just two errors for a .444 hitting percentage. Redshirt sophomore Courtney McDonald made the most of her first home match in two years with a career-high eight kills and a .538 hitting percentage (8-1-13).
Sophomore MacKenzy Harper had a team-high 11 digs as she made her second start at the libero position. Senior Christina Solverson and sophomore Chelsea Wintzinger split the assists with Wintzinger posting 17 and Solverson with 15 helpers.
The first set was all Auburn as the Tigers had 12 kills and held the Bulldogs to zero kills on 23 attacks with six errors for a -.261 hitting percentage. After the teams traded early service errors, the Tigers went on a 13-1 run, taking a 15-3 lead on back-to-back kills by Fidero; she had four in the first set. A&M went on a mini-run to pull back within reasonable range at 16-8, but a pair of kills from Kathia Rud started the final push that ended with a pair of Bulldog errors, one of which came at the hands of a block assist from Fidero and McDonald.
Set two was more of the same as the Tigers hit .455 as a team (11 kills, 22 attacks, just one error) and held the Bulldogs to -.067 for a 25-14 win. Auburn jumped out to a 4-0 lead with kills from Vesela Zapryanova and Kathia Rud and a block from Brittney Rhude and Chloe Rowand. It was 9-3 before the Bulldogs recorded their first kill of the night as Karensa Beckford got A&M’s first. Beckford then scored three of the next four points to make it 10-6; the Bulldogs kept it close at 14-10 before Auburn called its first timeout of the match.
Out of the timeout, the Tigers started a 6-1 run to make it 20-11, and it was all but over from there. Zapryanova and McDonald had three kills apiece in the set, and Rowand assisted on three blocks to give Auburn a 2-0 lead at the break.
Alabama A&M came out strong in the third set, leading early and pulling even at 5-5. But Auburn would go on a 13-2 run and coast to the finish for a 25-16 win to clinch the match. Fidero and McDonald each had four kills in the set as the Tigers scored 18 of their 25 points in the final frame on kills, hitting at a .306 clip (18-7-36). Alabama A&M hit .115 in the set with five kills, their only game in positive numbers in the match. The Tigers were also strong defensively in the third set, tallying 17 digs – five from Zapryanova – to the Bulldogs’ seven.
The Tigers won the digs battle 44-29 and had 37 assists to the Bulldogs’ nine. Auburn also recorded six total blocks; Alabama A&M had two. It was the second straight match for Auburn to hold an opponent below a .100 hitting percentage.
Auburn will hit the road once again this weekend for four matches at the Blue Raider Bash in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The Tigers face Florida International on Friday night, Austin Peay and Middle Tennessee on Saturday and Missouri on Sunday.
Alabama Volleyball Falls to Samford on the Road in Five
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – For the second straight match the Alabama volleyball team played five sets, but this came out on the losing end of a 3-2 (18-25, 25-17, 25-19, 18-25, 14-16) defeat to the Samford Bulldogs on Tuesday night from the Pete Hanna Center. With the loss the Crimson Tide falls to 3-1 on the season.
Against the in-state foe Samford (4-0), Alabama dropped the first set of the match before taking sets two and three for a 2-1 lead. However, the Bulldogs responded by winning the fourth set to push the match to the deciding fifth.
Samford won the final set, 17-15, to post its first win in the series in 18 tries. Alabama took a 14-13 lead in the fifth set following a big block by junior middle Leigh Moyer, but the Bulldogs won four of the final five points to win the match, handing Alabama its first loss of the season.
Kayla Fitterer posted her fourth straight double-double with a season-high 30 kills and 13 digs, moving her career total to 16. Fitterer, who had 70 attempts in the match, had a .343 hitting percentage as the Tide closed the night with a .236 hitting mark.
Andrea McQuaid posted her first career double-double with a team and career-high 32 assists to go along with a season-high tying 14 digs. McQuaid also added six kills in the match. Brianne Vande Griend finished the night with 14 kills and a .323 hitting percentage and Shelbi Goode came off the bench to add seven kills while hitting .385. Kelsey Anderson led the Tide with a match-high 26 digs.
Samford finished the match with a .262 hitting percentage as Elizabeth Neisler, Lauren Hutchinson and Katie Murphy combined for 50 of the Bulldogs’ 61 kills.
After falling behind 16-8 in the first set, UA closed the deficit to 21-18 before dropping the set by seven points (25-18). Fitterer led the Tide with five kills while Vande Griend hit .429 with three kills in the set. Samford posted six blocks and held UA to .048 hitting percentage in the opening set.
The Crimson Tide evened the match at one set each, taking the second set 25-17. Behind the strength of Fitterer’s six kills, UA hit .333 while holding Samford to .129. Bama trailed 3-2 early in the set, but regrouped to hold a 12-4 lead midway through the set. Samford closed the deficit to a little as four points (17-13) before the Tide rallied to close the set with an 8-4 run.
Alabama held off a late push by the Bulldogs to take the third set 25-19. After the Tide held a 20-9 lead, Samford rallied to cut the deficit to 23-19 before the Tide put the set in the books. Fitterer paced UA in the third with eight kills on 14 attempts with no errors. UA hit .483 as a team in the third set.
After Alabama tied the score at 13-13 in the fourth set, the Bulldogs went on a 12-5 run to take the fourth set 25-18, evening the match at 2-2. Fitterer was dominating in the set again for the Tide, recording eight kills on 19 swings, while Goode had three kills, but Alabama hit .184 in the set.
Alabama returns to action on Friday, Sept. 2 against the Lamar Cardinals in the Doubletree Invitational hosted by SMU. The Tide’s opening match of the tournament is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. CT from Moody Coliseum in Dallas, Texas. UA closes the tournament with matches against TCU (10 a.m. CT) and SMU (7 p.m. CT) on Saturday.
Wildcats Fall to Cincinnati in Home Opener
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Junior setter Stephanie Klefot extended her streak of 10 or more digs in a match, while senior Becky Pavan led the team in kills for the third time in four matches in a 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-13) Kentucky loss to Cincinnati, Tuesday in the home opener in front of 1,123 fans in Memorial Coliseum.
“We didn’t perform very well tonight,” UK coach Craig Skinner said. “Cincinnati played very well, and we didn’t respond. We have to fix some serve and pass issues, and this is where we learn a lot about our team. Give credit to Cincinnati, it was a good performance by them.”
With the loss Kentucky drops to 2-2 on the season, while Cincinnati improves to 2-3 overall. Kentucky returns to action when it hosts the Kentucky Classic Sept. 2-3. Up first in the four-team round-robin tournament is Western Kentucky at 7 p.m. ET.
With a match-high 18 scoops, Klefot has now tallied 10 or more digs in 42 career matches including all four matches this year. Pavan paced the attack with seven hammers and has led the team in kills in three of the first four matches of the year. Seniors Ann Armes and Gretchen Giesler chipped in with six apiece, while junior Ashley Frazier pounded out five on the night.
Giesler and sophomore Whitney Billings led the defensive effort at the net with three blocks each. Billings had a pair of solo rejections on the night and added three aces to the Wildcat cause. The match featured 18 tie scores and nine lead changes.
UK began the opening frame by scoring the match’s first two points benefiting from a kill and an ace from the right hand of Giesler. The Bearcats tied the score at three and from there the teams swapped points back and forth. Cincinnati finally broke free for a 12-5 run midway through the set to capture the opening frame by a 25-20 margin.
The Bearcats charted 13 kills on .231 hitting compared to 13 hammers on .156 clip for the home team. Giesler came out firing in the opening frame with four kills to lead the way for Kentucky.
Kentucky built a 2-0 edge to open the second set as well after Frazier hammered home a kill and the Billings charted one of her three aces in the match. However, Cincinnati fired back to tie the score at four. The Wildcats and Bearcats again exchanged leads with the visitors eventually taking a 15-14 edge and never looked back.
A kill from Pavan opened the scoring in the third set, but Cincinnati benefited from 11 attacking errors in the stanza by the Wildcats to surge ahead for the final 25-12 clinching set win.
The last time the Wildcats lost a home opener was in 2002 in a 3-1 loss to Alabama. Kentucky had captured a win in eight consecutive years.
Kentucky’s Memorial Coliseum will play host to the NCAA Regionals Dec. 9-10. UK is one of four sites selected for Sweet 16 and Elite Eight matchups with one team advancing to the Final Four in San Antonio, Texas, from the Lexington Region. Tickets are on sale now through the UK Ticket Office.
Career night for Stipanovich not enough vs. ORU
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Kelli Stipanovich posted a career performance with 30 kills, 14 digs and seven blocks but the University of Arkansas volleyball team dropped a five-set decision to Oral Roberts Tuesday night at Barnhill Arena. The 30-kill effort by Stipanovich is the first for an Arkansas player since Jessica Dorrell had 30 kills for the Razorbacks in 2007.
“Oral Roberts played a great match tonight,” head coach Robert Pulliza said. “All credit goes to them. When I look at our team, I have to start with Kelli Stipanovich who put up big, All-American kind of numbers tonight. This will be one of the best individual performances in the entire nation. As a team, we still have a lot of work to do.”
Stipanovich bettered her previous best of 21 kills set during her freshman year, and 13 digs set last season against UMKC. The senior attacker also had a career-high 70 attempts and finished the match hitting at a .300 clip. Stipanovich tied her career best with seven total blocks—three solo and four assisted.
Jasmine Norton chipped 11 kills and four total blocks, while Christa Alvarez and Brooke Fournier had 17 and 10 digs, respectively. Raymariely Santos totaled 49 assists against Oral Roberts. As a team, Arkansas had 18 total blocks.
Arkansas (2-2) won three of the first four points in the race to 15 in game five, but Oral Roberts (1-3) returned the favor and evened the tally at four. With the score tied, 7-7, the Golden Eagles pushed ahead on the scoreboard and built a four-point lead after a tandem block by Sheina Fernandes and Jessica Pancratz. The Razorbacks put up a block of their own the next point to cut their deficit to three. Oral Roberts, once trailing two sets to one, won the final two points of the match to complete its comeback.
After dropping the first point of the match, Arkansas rattled off the next seven points to force an early ORU timeout. The Razorbacks continued to build their lead and were up seven, 13-6, after a solo block by Kasey Heckelman. From that point, the Golden Eagles began to chip away at their deficit and, with the help of a 9-2 run, eventually tied the opener at 15-all.
The teams traded points until the visitors went ahead by three. The Razorbacks pulled to within one on two separate occasions late in the set but Oral Roberts reached set point on a kill by Joana Gruber and took the opener, 25-22, on the next point after a dump kill by the ORU setter.
In game two, the score was even after 10 points but Arkansas put together a 5-1 spurt to go ahead for good in the set. The Razorbacks doubled up their opponent, 14-7, on a kill by Roslandy Acosta. The home team went ahead by 11, its largest lead of the set, after a kill by Norton. Oral Roberts got no closer than seven the rest of the set. Stipanovich brought her team to set point with a kill and, three points later, closed out the set, 25-16, with another putaway.
After hitting .000 in the opening set, the Razorback offense responded in game two with a .400 hitting percentage. Five different players had at least two kills and all five hit over .333, individually. Stipanovich paced the offense with five kills in the set, including the clincher.
Oral Roberts won four of the first five points in set three but the Razorbacks came back to tie the score, 6-6, with the help of two hitting errors by Gruber. Arkansas went on to build a lead that reached four at its highest but the Golden Eagles stayed within striking distance pulled even, 21-21, after a tandem block and attack error by Hayley Koop.
The score was tied six times after that with the teams going into extra points to decide the third. Down the final stretch of points, Arkansas saved two set points and Oral Roberts saved one. The Razorbacks rode the arms of their two outsides as Stipanovich and Norton combined for five of the team’s final six points. Norton found the floor on the final two points to end the set, 29-27.
The fourth set played out like the games before with early point-for-point action, however it was Oral Roberts that surged ahead to take control. The Golden Eagles took a 23-15 lead after consecutive miscues by the Arkansas offense. With her team trailing by six, Norton stepped to the service line and won five points in a row to bring the Razorbacks to within two but ORU withstood the charge. On their third set point, the visitors secured the game, 25-23, to send the match to a fifth set.
Arkansas plays its next nine matches on the road, beginning with this weekend’s Deacon Invitational in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Razorbacks take on Charleston Southern, Georgetown and host Wake Forest at the two-day event. Arkansas’ next home match is Sept. 23, a Southeastern Conference matchup against Mississippi State.
Seminole Sweep: No. 9 Gators Remain Unbeaten vs. FSU in O'Connell Center
The No. 9 University of Florida volleyball team held in-state rival No. 25 Florida State to a hitting percentage of just .137, overcoming large deficits in the second and third sets, to defeat the Seminoles, 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-22, in front of a crowd of 4,631 fans, including a record 1,901 students, at the O'Connell Center on Tuesday night.
“Our students have been doing a really good job of showing up,” senior right-side/setter Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) said. “We have never had fans like this, especially in the beginning of the season. When we were down and started coming back, it was really the crowd that was pushing us. They really just give us that extra little bit of energy that you need.”
The Gators did not allow the Seminoles to win more than two points in a row in the first set. Florida then bounced back from a 9-1 deficit in the second set and trailed 13-6 in the third set, as the comeback kids did it again, pulling out 25-22 victories over Florida State in both sets.
Tonight's match marked the Gators' third consecutive three-set victory of 2011, opening the season with nine-straight set wins. Tonight's match was Florida's 21st-straight victory over the Seminoles and 20th straight in Gainesville. Florida is now 35-16 all-time against FSU and 28-2 under Florida head coach Mary Wise.
Murphy led the way for the Gators, notching her program-record 23rd triple double, with 12 kills, 17 assists and 10 digs. Cassandra Anderson (Bakersfield, Calif.) recorded eight kills, Stephanie Ferrell (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Tangerine Wiggs (Seattle, Wash.) each tallied seven kills, and Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) added six more. Chanel Brown (Tempe, Ariz.) led the team in assists, notching 17, and Taylor Unroe (Muncie, Ind.) held down the defense with 15 digs.
“We knew coming into the match that Florida State could run points, because they’re a terrific serving team, and they can block. The peak that was really impressive was how good they’re freshman libero was. I think that it unwrapped the battle that will be for the next four years. I think Katie did outstanding tonight. So, that is how we saw them run points against Kentucky. They can just bulldoze you.”
The first set between the two familiar foes began as a race for quick points. Ferrell hit a ball down the line and stepped behind the service line, sparking a five-point run and gave Florida a 10-7 lead. A perfect set from Murphy gave Wiggs a wide-open net, swinging big to extended the Florida lead to 17-13, the largest lead of the set. Florida State was never able to string together more than two points at a time, as Florida took the first set, 25-21.
The Seminoles took a hold of the second stanza early. With a 6-1 advantage over the Orange and Blue, Wise called a time out. Florida State, unfazed by the stoppage in play, rattled off another three points to give Florida their largest deficit of 2011 at 9-1. Wise made a substitution and gave Noami Santos-Lamb (Carolina, Puerto Rico) the first minutes of her career, as Santos-Lamb notched her first kill off a set from Unroe. The momentum began to shift towards the Gators, thanks to aggressive serving from Unroe, Murphy and Ferrell. Florida kept pushing and finally broke through when Jaeckel stepped behind the service line, scoring six straight points and causing the O’Dome crowd to begin chanting her name. The Gators were able to sideout continuously and halt the Seminoles’ attempts to come back, taking the second set, 25-22.
The third set seemed like déjà vu as Florida State aggressively came out of intermission to take a 10-5 lead. The Gators weren’t able to go on more than a 2-0 run until Brown started connecting with Murphy and Jaeckel, as they both contributed four kills in the third set. Jaeckel and Unroe both went on serving sprees to put the Gators within two. Florida State’s Visnja Djurdjevic stopped the Gators’ run and forced a Florida timeout. Out of the break, Jaeckel stunned Stepanova on defense with a hard shot on the ten-foot-line, putting Florida within two. Anderson stepped behind the service line and put the Gators ahead for the first time in the third stanza, serving four straight points, 23-21. Jaeckel drove home a set from Murphy to give the Gators match point. Brown served for the match and a Florida State attacking error ended the set and the match, 25-22.
“I think that tonight was a good learning experience for us” Jaeckel said. “It definitely shows us where we are. They are such a good team that exposes what we need to work on. We had our moments when we were playing great, and we had our moments when we were playing not so good. We’re just really trying to work on smoothing out our plays, so we’re consistent in the future.”
The Gators now host the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational this weekend in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. Florida plays at 12 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Friday and 4 p.m. on Saturday.