Aug. 29, 2007

Denver Invitational Match Notes

AUBURN - The Auburn University volleyball team (4-0) returns to action this weekend with the University of Denver Invitational in Denver, Colo.

The Tigers are set to take on host Denver on Friday at 8:30 p.m. CT and follow up with matches on Saturday against Wichita State (11 a.m. CT) and DePaul (6 p.m. CT). All matches are scheduled for Denver's Hamilton Gymnasium.

Auburn enters the tournament with the best overall record at 4-0 as the Tigers are off to their best start since 1994. Denver and Wichita State are both 1-2 while DePaul is 0-2.

COACH FARINA ON THE DENVER INVITATIONAL
"The Denver Tournament will be a good competitive challenge for this young team. Our goal, of course, is to win the tournament. In order to do that we will need to win the side-out scoring part of the game and our left side attackers will need to be stellar."

SERIES HISTORY
Of the three opponents, the most recent for Auburn is Denver. The teams squared off at the Michigan State Tournament in 2001 with Denver taking the 3-1 win (30-22, 22-30, 22-30, 21-30). The last meetings against Wichita State and DePaul happened before some of the current Tigers were even born. Auburn downed Wichita State in five games (15-10, 12-15, 8-15, 15-7, 15-13) during the 1988 season at the Lady Jayhawk Tournament and beat DePaul in a sweep (15-13, 15-9, 15-1) at the DePaul Invitational in 1987.

LAST TIME OUT
Auburn is coming off of a 3-0 sweep over Georgia State on Tuesday, winning the match in 30-23, 30-25, 30-16. Four Tigers (Sekulic, Shanks, Glover and Jacob) finished in double-figure kills while freshman Lauren Mellor posted a season-best eight blocks in the match. Auburn now holds a 14-0 all-time record against the Panthers.

UP NEXT FOR THE TIGERS
Following this weekend's Denver Invitational, Auburn returns home for a match against Kennesaw State. Play is set to begin at 7 p.m. in the Student Activities Center.