OXFORD, Miss. – The Auburn volleyball team (6-10, 0-5 SEC) dropped a tightly-contest match at Ole Miss, falling 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-18) Sunday afternoon in the Gillom Center.
"Ole Miss is playing really well right now and it's hard to face a team on fire at their place," head coach Rick Nold said. "We did some things really well today, but we just have to keep getting better each match."
Sophomore Val Green led the Tigers with 10 kills, while junior Chesney McClellan hit .421 with nine kills on 19 attempts and just one error. Freshman Lily Thomason earned the first start of her career, tying a career best with eight kills in the match.
Sophomore Tatum Shipes set a career high defensively, leading Auburn with 18 digs. Sophomore libero Bella Rosenthall added 12 and junior Payton White finished with 11.
Auburn returns home for a pair of matches next weekend, welcoming nationally-ranked Missouri (Oct. 18) and Georgia (Oct. 20) to Auburn Arena.
SET ONE
The Rebels (13-3, 5-0 SEC) opened up with a 6-3 lead in the set and didn't let up all stanza. Ole Miss pushed a 12-6 advantage before a late push behind big blocks brought the Tigers within two at 15-13. The home squad, however, rattled off five-straight points for a 22-15 lead and took the set, 25-21.
SET TWO
Big swings by Thomason led to a 5-2 Auburn lead in the second set and a Green ace followed by a Shipes kill made it 12-7. The Rebels responded with a four-point run to tie it up at 14-all and the squads exchanged point until a late 3-0 run made it 22-20 Ole Miss. The home team held on for another 25-21 victory.
SET THREE
Ole Miss used a 7-0 run to take an early 12-4 lead and never looked back. Auburn used big swings from Green and Thomason to slowly inch back into the set, coming within five at 22-17. But the Rebels were too far up and went on to win the match, 25-18.