AU ROUNDUP: Volleyball tops South Carolina

Behind 18-kill performances from Katherine Culwell and Kelly Fidero, the Auburn volleyball team topped South Carolina, 3-1 (28-26, 18-25, 25-13, 25-17), on Sunday at the Student Activities Center.

“We played very composed today despite starting a little slow,” head coach Wade Benson said. “South Carolina is a smart team that does not make many errors and we were able to match them in that area. It was a great win for this squad.”

With the win, the Tigers improve to 12-8 overall and 4-5 in the SEC.

The 12 wins are the most Auburn has had since the 2006 season when the team finished the year with 13 total victories. South Carolina fell to 11-8 and 3-7 in conference play.

Along with her 18 kills, Culwell picked up 12 digs to record the third double-double of her career. Freshman Sarah Bullock tallied her third double-double with a 10 kill, 10 dig performance, while Christina Solverson finished with 22 assists and 12 digs. Junior Alyssa Davis finished with nine kills and a match-high seven blocks.

Auburn libero Liz Crouch finished the day with a match-best 23 digs. Combined with her seven digs against Florida on Friday, Crouch now has 1,059 career digs, which places her fourth all-time at Auburn.

South Carolina’s Ivana Kujundzic tallied 16 kills and 17 digs to lead the Gamecocks. Megan Laughlin had 13 kills and libero Sarah Cline recorded 15 digs.

Auburn continues its homestand next weekend, hosting in-state rival Alabama on Friday at 6 p.m. The Tigers close out the weekend with a 1:30 p.m. match against Mississippi State on Sunday. Both matches will be held at the Student Activities Center and admission is free.

Soccer falls to Kentucky
Caitlin King connected on her third goal of the weekend but Auburn could not capitalize on enough of its scoring chances despite owning an overwhelming advantage on the stat sheet as it fell to Kentucky, 2-1, on Sunday afternoon.

“Kentucky did a better job of finishing their chances, it’s that simple,” Auburn Head Coach Karen Hoppa said. “We had the opportunities, we had the chances but we didn’t finish. They had less opportunities and finished a higher percentage and because of that one detail they deserved to win the game.”

Auburn took 22 shots compared to just nine for Kentucky but was unable to finish on any of its chances outside of King’s fifth goal of the season to fall to 6-7-3, 3-5-0 SEC. Kentucky is now 5-7-4, 2-5-1 SEC.

Kentucky took a 1-0 lead on Giuleana Lopez’s fourth goal of the year in the 20th minute as she finished off a cross off of a free kick from a step inside the six.

Auburn took 14 first half shots while Kentucky could only register three but Kentucky keeper Laura Burton, making her first start of the season, made four saves in the half to keep Auburn off the scoreboard.

King was able to tie the game at 1-1 at the 64 minute mark, finishing off an Ana Cate feed for her 15th career goal. Cate had won a 50/50 ball and found King on the run for her second assist on the year.

Kentucky regained the edge in the scoring column in the 75th minute when Laura Novikoff flicked in her first goal of the season off of a Jenna Goblirsch cross for a 2-1 Kentucky lead.

“Kentucky’s first goal was off of free kick into the wind and it was one of those scrambles in the box where they came out with it and we didn’t. The second one we just got beat. We got beat on the end line on the cutback and we got beat in the box and Novikoff had a great finish on the flick header,” Hoppa said.

King finished with a match-high seven shots, five of which went on goal, but outside of her goal, Burton was there to snuff out King’s opportunities each time.

Amy Howard finished the match with five saves and now has 90 on the season while Burton made seven saves for Kentucky.

Auburn took five corners to Kentucky’s four.

Kentucky was whistled for 19 fouls and Auburn for 17.

Auburn returns to the field on Thursday night in Knoxville, Tenn., when it faces Tennessee at 6 p.m.

Men’s golf finishes 13th at the Ridges
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — The Auburn men’s golf team (297-888) carded a 9-over final round to finish 13th at the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate at the Ridges Golf Club.

Senior Cole Moreland (73-219) led all Tigers at the event. The Austin, Texas native tied for 25th after shooting 3-over through 54 holes of play. Redshirt freshman David Zickler (73-221) tied for 31st followed by sophomore John Stembridge (73-225) in 49th. Sophomores Will McCurdy (78-227) and Kyle Kopsick (78-227) tied for 55th.

“We still have one more tournament before the winter break,” said Auburn head coach Nick Clinard. “We have to put this one behind us and use it to build for the rest of the season. The opening nine holes were good for us this weekend. We just let it slip after the turn.“

No. 8 Oregon State (294-861) and No. 13 Tennessee (294-861) tied for the team championship followed by Virginia (291-863), Virginia Tech (289-866), Duke (283-869), ETSU (293-874), Wake Forest (295-875), Missouri (300-876), North Carolina (293-877), No. 11 NC State (288-882), NC. Wilmington (302-885), No. 23 Kent State (302-886), Auburn (297-888), Coastal Carolina (302-892) and UAB (301-912).

Oregon State’s Diego Velasquez (70-206) claimed the individual title followed by a three-way tie for second.

The Tigers return to action Oct. 27-28 at the David Toms Intercollegiate at the Country Club of Louisiana in Baton Rouge, La.