ATLANTA--Fifth-year senior Ana Paula Ferreira (6'0" - middle hitter) had a team-high 13 kills, but it was not enough as the Georgia State University volleyball team (3-2) fell to Auburn University 3-0 (30-23, 30-25, 30-16) Tuesday night at the Georgia State Sports Arena.
"Auburn did a very good job with their service game of keeping us out of sync," said Panthers head coach Mike Webster. "We didn't have the service game on our end that we needed to match them in that aspect."
Georgia State led in the early stages of game one, but Auburn (4-0) used a run 20 points into the game to seize control. Five points in a row by the Tigers enabled the visitors to take a 15-10 lead before State could respond. Auburn would stretch the lead to nine at 27-18 before State whittled the lead down to six at 29-23 on a service ace by sophomore Noelle Boyd (5'11" - setter). State fought off the first three attempts at game point for Auburn, but after Boyd's ace, a kill by the Tigers gave them game one 30-23.
State scored the first point of game two, but Auburn went on a 6-0 to ensure they would not trail in the game again. Down 9-3, the Panthers went on a 6-0 run of their own to tie the score thanks to a ball handling error, two kills by junior Michelle Trimble (6'0" - outside hitter), a service ace for Ferreira, a kill by Boyd, and a block by Boyd and sophomore Jocelyn Waldern (6'0" - middle hitter).
Auburn responded with the next three points to open the lead back up by three markers. State kept the frame close much of the rest of the way, pulling within one at 18-17 on a Trimble kill. But leading by one, Auburn would score 12 of the final 20 points of the game to swipe the second stanza.
As tight as games one and two were, game three was the opposite as the visitors took control from the outset and never looked back. Auburn's lead bulged to 15 points at 28-13 before the final score settled at 30-16.
Ferreira had 13 kills to lead State to go with four digs and two total blocks. Trimble had seven kills for second-best honors on the State squad.
A quartet of Tigers went over the 10-kill mark, led by Jessica Glover's 14. Auburn hit .462 as a team for the match, combining for just nine attack errors while blocking 11 State attacks and forcing 20 attack errors for the home team.
The Panthers will not return to the Sports Arena for a match until September 21 when they host Virginia Commonwealth at 5:30 p.m. State's next match will come this Friday when they travel to Denton, Texas for the Mean Green Volleyball Classic. State will square off with Texas State at 11:30 a.m. EDT, before closing the day against Missouri-Kansas City at 5:30 p.m.
