Thursday, October 21
Athens, Ga.
7:00 p.m.
University of Georgia
5-13,1-6SEC
0
vs
3
Auburn
12-7,4-5SEC
1
2
3
F
Auburn
25
25
25
3
Georgia
21
19
20
0
Georgia Opens Series with 3-0 Loss to Auburn
October 21, 2021 | Volleyball
ATHENS, Ga. – The Georgia women's volleyball program opened its home series against Auburn Thursday evening at Stegeman Coliseum, falling in straight sets, 3-0 (21-25, 19-25, 20-25).
Senior Kayla Rivera led the Bulldogs with 10 kills on the evening, followed by seven from junior Amber Stivrins and six from freshman Lyric Stewart. Rivera led the Bulldog blocking efforts with a quartet of blocks.
Freshman Bailey Cox put up 10 digs in the match. Junior Kacie Evans donned the libero jersey in the third set, tallying seven digs in the match. Freshman setter Clara Brower tallied eight digs, narrowly missing a double-double after dishing out 27 assists.
Georgia (5-13, 2-4) stormed out in front to open the match, leading 6-1. Auburn used a five-point run to tie the frame at 7-all. Georgia was able to hold on to the lead, but a 7-2 Tiger run put Auburn in front 15-12 going in to the first set media timeout. The Tigers held on to stay out in front despite Georgia closing the gap late, 23-21. Auburn wrapped the opening frame 25-21 to go ahead 1-0 in the match. Rivera registered six kills to begin the match with no hitting errors.
Auburn (12-7, 1-6) used an early advantage to force a Georgia timeout, down 8-2. The Tigers kept their foot on the gas, to lead the entire set. Georgia cut the Tiger lead to two, 20-18, but the early deficit was too much to overcome, falling in set two, 25-19.
The Bulldogs found an early lead in set three until Auburn tied it up and forced a back-and-forth battle. Three-straight from the Tigers put Auburn in front by two, 13-11, and Georgia took a timeout. The Bulldogs sliced the lead to 17-15 until five-straight broke open a seven-point lead for the Tigers. Georgia made a late push facing match point, but Auburn held off the Dogs to finish the match, 25-20.
The Bulldogs and Tigers will square off again Friday evening at Stegeman Coliseum. First serve will be at 7 p.m. on SEC Network+.
Head Coach Tom Black
On what is motivating his team in the remainder of the season…
"There shouldn't be any need for motivation. We're laying in the SEC. There's still a lot of season left. I expect more from all of us, and I expect them to respond tomorrow."
On the switch to Kacie Evans as libero in the third set…
"I just felt that was a change we needed to make in that match. We have a lot of confidence in both those players. I know they'll respond tomorrow."
On how he thinks his team will finish the season…
"I see us responding and getting after Auburn tomorrow. That's where I'm keeping my focus for the moment."
Junior outside hitter Kacie Evans
On how the team has dealt with adversity throughout the season…
"Just based on what we've dealt with, taking Tennessee to four was a great match. We definitely could have taken them to five. South Carolina was a complete blowout. We could have won that game in five easily. It's all about how you're going to respond based on either an error or something that the other team has done. This team is capable of responding. We are capable of doing great things on the court. It's just who is going to come out and compete, who is going to take charge and bring that aggression when things are feeling close or when teams are going to keep pushing. Auburn definitely did push tonight. This is probably the best volleyball that they've played, but I know we can definitely play better volleyball tomorrow."
On the communication on the court…
"I do agree that we did have our spurts of that. Communication is always big in volleyball. It's never going to go away. You're always going to be talking. If you're silent, then I don't know what you're doing on the court. That can go based on cheering. That can go based on frontloading. Communication can be anything in that moment. If you're not communicating, either you're not focused, or you're not in it, or something needs to be lit up. I think with the communication errors we had, we definitely responded better from the next one. If the same situation happened, we were able to respond better from that. With the communication, with those errors, it's definitely something we'll keep watching tonight in film. I know everyone's going to be watching. I know everyone's going to be watching some plays that they thought they could do better, or they're going to watch their really good plays and how they can apply in to tomorrow. Tonight is an opportunity to figure out who is going to be the aggressor, who is going to be the competitor, and it's going to show on Auburn tomorrow."
Senior Kayla Rivera led the Bulldogs with 10 kills on the evening, followed by seven from junior Amber Stivrins and six from freshman Lyric Stewart. Rivera led the Bulldog blocking efforts with a quartet of blocks.
Freshman Bailey Cox put up 10 digs in the match. Junior Kacie Evans donned the libero jersey in the third set, tallying seven digs in the match. Freshman setter Clara Brower tallied eight digs, narrowly missing a double-double after dishing out 27 assists.
Georgia (5-13, 2-4) stormed out in front to open the match, leading 6-1. Auburn used a five-point run to tie the frame at 7-all. Georgia was able to hold on to the lead, but a 7-2 Tiger run put Auburn in front 15-12 going in to the first set media timeout. The Tigers held on to stay out in front despite Georgia closing the gap late, 23-21. Auburn wrapped the opening frame 25-21 to go ahead 1-0 in the match. Rivera registered six kills to begin the match with no hitting errors.
Auburn (12-7, 1-6) used an early advantage to force a Georgia timeout, down 8-2. The Tigers kept their foot on the gas, to lead the entire set. Georgia cut the Tiger lead to two, 20-18, but the early deficit was too much to overcome, falling in set two, 25-19.
The Bulldogs found an early lead in set three until Auburn tied it up and forced a back-and-forth battle. Three-straight from the Tigers put Auburn in front by two, 13-11, and Georgia took a timeout. The Bulldogs sliced the lead to 17-15 until five-straight broke open a seven-point lead for the Tigers. Georgia made a late push facing match point, but Auburn held off the Dogs to finish the match, 25-20.
The Bulldogs and Tigers will square off again Friday evening at Stegeman Coliseum. First serve will be at 7 p.m. on SEC Network+.
Head Coach Tom Black
On what is motivating his team in the remainder of the season…
"There shouldn't be any need for motivation. We're laying in the SEC. There's still a lot of season left. I expect more from all of us, and I expect them to respond tomorrow."
On the switch to Kacie Evans as libero in the third set…
"I just felt that was a change we needed to make in that match. We have a lot of confidence in both those players. I know they'll respond tomorrow."
On how he thinks his team will finish the season…
"I see us responding and getting after Auburn tomorrow. That's where I'm keeping my focus for the moment."
Junior outside hitter Kacie Evans
On how the team has dealt with adversity throughout the season…
"Just based on what we've dealt with, taking Tennessee to four was a great match. We definitely could have taken them to five. South Carolina was a complete blowout. We could have won that game in five easily. It's all about how you're going to respond based on either an error or something that the other team has done. This team is capable of responding. We are capable of doing great things on the court. It's just who is going to come out and compete, who is going to take charge and bring that aggression when things are feeling close or when teams are going to keep pushing. Auburn definitely did push tonight. This is probably the best volleyball that they've played, but I know we can definitely play better volleyball tomorrow."
On the communication on the court…
"I do agree that we did have our spurts of that. Communication is always big in volleyball. It's never going to go away. You're always going to be talking. If you're silent, then I don't know what you're doing on the court. That can go based on cheering. That can go based on frontloading. Communication can be anything in that moment. If you're not communicating, either you're not focused, or you're not in it, or something needs to be lit up. I think with the communication errors we had, we definitely responded better from the next one. If the same situation happened, we were able to respond better from that. With the communication, with those errors, it's definitely something we'll keep watching tonight in film. I know everyone's going to be watching. I know everyone's going to be watching some plays that they thought they could do better, or they're going to watch their really good plays and how they can apply in to tomorrow. Tonight is an opportunity to figure out who is going to be the aggressor, who is going to be the competitor, and it's going to show on Auburn tomorrow."
Team Stats
AUB
UGa
Kills
42
33
Errors
15
20
Attempts
112
108
Hitting %
.241
.120
Points
61
43
Assists
39
29
Aces
6
3
Blocks
13
7
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
6
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Players Mentioned
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