No. 21 Volleyball Falls to Auburn

Saturday, September 3

LOUISVILLE, KY

7:30 PM

University of Louisville

4-2

AUBURN

3-4

AUBURN

Louisville

September 03, 2016 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Tess Clark and Molly Sauer Named All Active Ankle Challenge

By: Garrett Nugent

Louisville, Ky. – Auburn's Brenna McIlroy's 18 kills helped lead the Tigers to a 3-2 comeback win over No.21-ranked Louisville and close out action at the Active Ankle Volleyball Challenge.

UofL (4-2) was led by Melanie McHenry with 14 kills as Louisville hit .182 for the match. Tess Clark and Jenelle Jenkins both amassed double digit kills at 12 each. Kali Eaken led Louisville with 42 assists. Molly Sauer had a team-high 20 digs. Louisville fell 15-25, 17-25, 25-14, 25-22, 15-8 in sets to the Tigers (3-4) who hit .214 for the match.

"There is nothing tougher than to be up 2-0 in set and lose. There is nothing better than to be down 2-0 in sets and lose," Anne Kordes, UofL head coach said after the loss to Auburn. "We are young and we are going to have to scratch and fight all year. But with the arms and passing we have, our offense will get better. I am so proud of Molly Sauer and her defense all weekend. We just have to put this behind us and focus on the next matches."

Louisville came out firing on all cylinders to start the match against Auburn courtesy of a Tess Clark who was hitting at a .483 clip. Auburn kept it close early though, taking a 6-5 lead. Louisville would respond with a 6-1 run and take an 11- 7 lead that forced the Tigers to call a timeout. Louisville came out of the timeout with a 6-2 run to take a commanding 17-9 lead, prompting Auburn to burn their last timeout of the set to try and regroup. Louisville would then power their way to a 25-15 set one victory ending the set the same way it started, with a Tess Clark kill.

To start the second set, Louisville would get the first two points off kills from Melanie McHenry and Janelle Jenkins. Auburn came right back and tie it a 2 before the Cards rattled off three straight points to take a 5-2 lead. Auburn would then use two kills and five Cardinal errors to go on a 7-3 run and to take a slim 9-8 lead. Louisville would get two kills by both Jenkins and McHenry and two aces by Ashley Pettibone to go on go on a 9-2 run and grow their lead to 17-9 and force Auburn to call a timeout and regroup. The Tigers would then call their final timeout to regroup after McHenry hit her fourth kill of the match to take a 21-16 lead. Louisville would come out of the timeout undeterred and closed the set out 25-17.

Auburn and Louisville would keep things close early in the third set as Auburn held an early 8-7 lead after the first 15 points. Louisville got a kill by Jasmine Bennett and an error by the Tigers to tie things up at 9. The Tigers roared to life after their error and go on an 11-4 run encompassing two Louisville timeouts to take a 20-13 lead before Bennett killed to make the score 20-14. Three kills by Auburn and two errors on the Cards would allow the Tigers to capture the third set 25-14.

The fourth set had seven ties and four lead changes and Tigers used a 9-4 run to take a 14-9 lead over the Cardinals, but back-to-back errors on Auburn cut their lead to 14-11. The teams traded the next nine points to take the score to 19-15 before Louisville went on a 5-0 run to take a 20-19 lead. Clark had a kill to tie it at 22, before two kills and an ace by the Tigers gave them the 25-22 fourth set win and tie the match at two.

Auburn started the fifth set with a kill, a block, a kill, and an ace to take a 4-0 lead and force Louisville to call a timeout. A huge block out of the time out by Jasmine Bennett gave some momentum back to the Cardinals who would cut the lead to 6-5 thanks to two kills and a block by Clark. Auburn calledl a timeout to regroup and traded kills with Louisville to bring the score to an 8-7 Tigers lead. Auburn benefitted from a 7-1 run to take the fifth set 15-8, and win the match 3-2.

Santa Clara was the champion of the 2016 Active Ankle Volleyball Challenge, going undefeated against the field.

Louisville will travel to Chapel Hill, N.C. on Friday to compete in the ACC/BIG TEN Challenge, where they will face Minnesota and Wisconsin.

All Tournament Team
Nikki Harris – Santa Clara
Hailey Lindberg – Santa Clara
Alexa Filley – Auburn
Brenna McIlroy – Auburn
Molly Sauer – Louisville
Tess Clark – Louisville
Mckyla Brooks – Stony Brook

MVP Jensen Cunningham – Santa Clara
Team Winner -- Santa Clara