AUBURN, Ala. – The Georgia volleyball team closed its 2009 campaign with a five-set, Southeastern Conference victory over the Auburn Tigers on Wednesday evening at the Student Activities Center.

“What a fantastic finish to our season,” Georgia head coach Joel McCartney said. “To come down here and complete a sweep against this talented team is a great testimony to the perseverance of the youngest team I have ever coached. There were no real stand-out performances today by any of our individual Dogs, but as a team we stood tall and finished well.”

With the win, Georgia concluded its 2009 season with a 17-14 overall record, marking the third-straight season the Bulldogs have won 17 matches. In SEC play, UGA went 8-12 to earn a share of fifth-place in the league, its highest finish since a fifth-place finish in 2004. Auburn (16-15) also went 8-12 in SEC action while Arkansas (13-17) can also finish 8-12 in the league with a win over Ole Miss in its final match of the year.

“Fifth in the SEC doesn’t sound great to everyone out there, but our conference is getting so much more competitive and this is the highest place finish we’ve had in the past five years,” McCartney noted. “It has been hard work to dig out of the bottom of this league, but I promise there are great things lying ahead for Georgia volleyball.”

In Wednesday’s season finale, Georgia dropped the first set to Auburn, 25-23, but answered by taking the next two sets, 25-21 and 25-18. After Auburn climbed back with a 25-18 fourth-set win, the Bulldogs earned victory and a season-series sweep by edging the Tigers, 15-12, in the decisive set.

The two teams played an even offensive match with Georgia notching 57 kills from 55 assists for a .179 hitting percentage and Auburn getting 57 kills from 54 assists for a .154 hitting percentage. The Bulldogs and Tigers also matched each other with four aces each, but UGA gained an advantage in the match defensively with 67 digs and 15.5 blocks compared to AU’s 61 digs and 11.0 blocks.

Junior outside hitter Erika Clark and sophomore setter Kathleen Gates each recorded double-doubles in the match. Clark led the match with 14 kills while adding 15 digs for her 13th double-double of the season, and Gates achieved the feat for a sixth time by providing 45 assists and equaling her season-high with 11 digs. Adding to the offensive attack, junior middle hitter Valentina Gonzalez and redshirt freshman Briana Bahr each posted 12 kills on .258 clips. Defensively, Gonzalez led the blocking attack falling just shy of a double-double with nine blocks while sophomore libero Carla Tietz had a match-best 21 digs.

Auburn’s top performers in the match included Morgan Johns, Sarah Bullock, Kelly Fidero and Liz Crouch. Johns’ led the Tigers with 13 kills and Bullock and Fidero added 12 apiece. Crouch had an AU-best 17 digs.

On the season, Tietz finished with the fourth-best dig total in program history with 459, Gonzalez tied the sixth-best hitting percentage mark at .351 and in single-season block assists, Dylla checked in eighth at 118 with Gonzalez just behind in ninth at 119.

Additionally, several Bulldogs moved into and up the career record books at Georgia including Tietz in first for digs per set (3.62), Clark fourth for digs per set (3.11), Gonzalez sixth in hitting percentage (.306), Gates sixth in assists per set (9.74) and seventh in total assists (2,249), Gonzalez eighth in total blocks per set (1.06) and Dylla ninth in blocks per set (1.02).

- Georgia Sports Communications