Credit to Sam Thornton | Assistant Director, Athletics Communications – 12thman.com
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M volleyball team fell to No. 24 Auburn in a five-set battle Sunday afternoon in Reed Arena, 3-2 (21-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-22, 15-12).
The first frame opened with back-and-forth play, as the teams were knotted at 10. The Aggies (15-8, 7-6 SEC) found a slight advantage at the media timeout through Logan Lednicky’s five early kills (15-14). Continuing her hot start, Lednicky led the A&M offense with another pair of kills to force an Auburn (18-5, 8-4 SEC) timeout, as the Maroon & White led by three (22-19). Not taking their foot off the gas, the Aggies won the opener, 25-21.
The Tigers flipped the momentum at the start of the second, as they pulled away with an early lead prompting a timeout from head coach Jamie Morrison (9-5). Auburn maintained its advantage and leveled the match, as it stole the second, 25-19.
Nothing separated the squads in the third, as they were tied at 15. The Tigers created a two-point advantage, but that was instantly nullified through Alayna Pearson at the service line, as the Aggies scored six-straight points to lead (23-19). Auburn rallied late; however, it wasn’t enough as A&M claimed the third set (25-23) and regained the advantage in the match, 2-1.
Entering the fourth set, Auburn found a slight lead at the midway point, 15-13. The Tigers held their five-point advantage as coach Morrison called a timeout to regroup his squad (23-18). A&M survived three set points but came up just short (25-22), as the match headed to a fifth and final set, 2-2.
Auburn came out as the aggressors in the decider, as it took a three-point lead at the halfway point (8-5). The Maroon & White responded on a 3-1 run, forcing a Tiger timeout (9-8). Despite surviving a pair of match points, Auburn closed out the set (15-12) and match, 3-2.
UP NEXT
The Aggies head back on the road to face Missouri Friday evening with first serve set for 6 p.m.
COACH’S QUOTES
Head coach Jamie Morrison on today’s match …
“Disappointed but proud. We faced some adversity, but we kept trying to find ways to score points. When Nisa [Buzlutepe] went out, we had girls step up and kick us into a different gear. Unfortunately, we couldn’t maintain all the way through, but I’m proud of how hard they battled.”
Morrison on the team banding together …
“Our team battling back, was the shining moment of that match. I thought that third set showed us how it needs to be all the time. We wanted to win every point no matter what and all 14 of us, on the court or not, were trying to figure out a way to win.”
STAT STANDOUTS
- Logan Lednicky – 16 kills
- Bianna Muoneke – 12 kills – 13 digs
- Caroline Meuth – 12 kills – 3 blocks – 2 aces
- Morgan Perkins – 8 kills – .500 hitting percentage
- Ava Underwood – 19 digs
- Margot Manning – 32 assists – 2 aces
- Ifenna Cos-Okpalla – 4 kills – 4 blocks – 2 aces
FOLLOW THE AGGIES
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