CLINTON, Miss. – The Auburn Montgomery volleyball team played its first Gulf South Conference match on Tuesday evening at Mississippi College, falling to the host Choctaws 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-23).
 
NOTES
• AUM drops to 6-5 on the season and 0-1 in Gulf South Conference play
• Mississippi College improves to 7-5 overall with a 1-0 mark in GSC action.
 
STANDOUT PERFORMERS
• Redshirt freshman middle blocker Jaylyn Felder led the Warhawks on offense with nine kills on a career-high .412 hitting percentage.
• Junior setter Carly Smart filled out the stat sheet with 26 assists, six digs, five kills, a service ace and block.
• Redshirt junior middle blocker Kheala Roberts boasted a career-best 14 digs in the contest while adding six terminations.
• Junior middle blocker Brianna Garvin posted four blocks, marking the fifth time this season that the Atlanta, Ga. native has averaged 1.0 blocks per set or more in a match.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• AUM and Mississippi College exchanged the opening 20 points before a 5-0 run by the hosts propelled them to a 15-10 lead. The Choctaws prevented AUM from getting within two for the remainder of the frame behind a match-high .333 hitting percentage.
• In similar fashion to the previous stanza, the two sides stood in a deadlock following the opening 20 points with a 10-all score. AUM, who used back-to-back tallies to knot up the score, continued its rally with three more points to take a 13-10 lead. The Warhawks maintained the advantage until a late 6-2 run by the Choctaws gave the hosts a 23-22 position.
• Mississippi College led the bulk of the final set, with the Warhawks lone lead coming off a 5-1 run to take a 10-9 advantage before four-consecutive tallies for the hosts gave them a 13-10 edge. AUM never let the deficit get higher than four, making it a one-point contest at 19-18 behind a 4-1 run but could not knot up the score.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• AUM finished the match 34 kills on a .178 hitting percentage versus 41 on a .239 clip for Mississippi College.
• MC held a 52-48 advantage in digs
• AUM ended the match with 5.0 blocks with Mississippi College posted 5.5
• The two sides combined for 11 service aces, with the Warhawks posting five versus six for the host.
 
UP NEXT
AUM hosts Montevallo for the program's inaugural home match on Friday, Sept. 22 at 6 p.m. with West Georgia coming to Montgomery on Saturday, Sept. 23 for a 1 p.m. tilt.
 
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