UK Volleyball improves to 16-2 on the year.

By Madison Tinder

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The No. 13 UK volleyball team continued its 10-game winning streak on Sunday  defeating Auburn 3-0 (25-15,25-19,25-18) in Memorial Coliseum. The Cats are now 16-2 overall and undefeated after six games in conference play.

UK’s strong blocking effort prevented Auburn from getting into the rhythm offensively as the Cats finished with 13 blocks in the game.

Offensively, junior outside hitter Shelby Workman carried the team. Workman tallied 11 kills with only four errors. Junior middle blocker Sara Schwarzwalder notched a career high 11 blocks, the most in UK’s history. Schwarzwalder also added nine kills.

Junior setter Morgan Bergren finished with 33 assists and senior outside hitter Lauren O’ Connor added seven kills.The Tigers were held to just 27 kills, 26 assists and three blocks, while UK finished  with 39 blocks and five serving aces.

The Cats entered the first set in a back and forth battle with Auburn until Workman’s two attacks put UK up 12-9. The Tigers couldn’t handle UK’s offense the rest of the set and the Cats took a 25-15 victory.

UK started off strong in the second set, taking a 5-0 lead. The Cats stayed ahead the majority of the set until two kills from the Auburn offense cut the lead to 10-8. The Tigers tried to keep up but forced two attack errors, which gave the Cats momentum to finish the set 25-19.

The Cats started off shaky in the third set trailing behind 4-1. A kill by O’Connor and a kill by freshman middle blocker Emily Franklin gave the Cats momentum to get the lead back. The Tigers two attack errors put UK back up 7-5. It was a back and forth battle for most of the set until O’Connor slammed two balls making the score 20-16. It was an easy route from there and a Workman kill ended the game 25-18.

UK will travel to Georgia to face the Bulldogs on Oct. 17 but will be back in Memorial Coliseum on Oct. 19 to faceoff against Louisiana State University.