Auburn drops volleyball match to Michigan State

ATLANTA — The Auburn volleyball team faced No. 17 Michigan State to start day two of the Hyatt Regency Invitational and the Spartans came away with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-20) win in O’Keefe Gym Saturday afternoon.

“We had the mentality and battle today, but we just got beat on the serve and pass,” head coach Rick Nold said. “Michigan State served very aggressively and had tough serves all day. We just need to do a better job at handling these situations and we’ll come back out tonight ready to play.”

Auburn (1-1) was led by senior Macy Reece with seven kills, while sophomore Gwyn Jones had six. Junior Brenna McIlroy and sophomore Shaina White totaled five kills apiece. Senior setter Alexa Filley finished with 22 assists and nine digs. Classmate Jesse Earl led the squad with 13 digs on the day.

Michigan State’s (2-0) Holly Toliver had a match-high 12 kills and Alyssa Garvelink led all student-athletes with seven blocks. Setter Rachel Minarick had 26 assists and libero Abby Monson had 17 digs.