In a big road spot, Auburn's freshmen produced everything but a win in Baton Rouge as the road Tigers were swept on Sunday by LSU, 25-22, 25-21, 25-23.
Freshman hitter Tatum Shipes led Auburn (8-10, 1-7 SEC) in kills and celebrated a career-best with 10. Shipes was followed by Gwyn Jones who contributed eight and fellow freshman Taylor Rowland who finished the day with six kills.
Setter Mica Allison was another freshman who led Auburn’s offense, having a total of 31 assists. Senior Brenna McIlroy celebrated her first game starting as Auburn’s libero and had a total 17 digs. Blocking was led by Anna Stevenson with four, followed by Shaina White with three.
Three players logged double-digit kills for LSU with Taylor Bannister and Milan Stokes each having 11 and Sydney Mukes adding 10 to the team’s total of 51. Setter Anna Zwiebel had 36 assists on the day.
Sophomore Raigen Cianciulli had 17 digs to lead the LSU defense, but the team struggled to defend at the net, tallying only one block by Jacqui Armer.
The match began with a back-and-forth fight between the Tigers with five ties in the start of the first set. The visiting Tigers gathered for a timeout at 20-14 and were able to tie the game again at 22 all. LSU jumped ahead with three straight points to end the set at 25-22.
LSU started off strong in the second set, leading to an 8-1 advantage. LSU pushed Auburn to another timeout at 17-8. After a few costly errors from LSU, Auburn had worked its way back to just a 4-point deficit, 23-19. The home team won the set 25-21.
The third and final set opened to another back-and-forth. After a 5-0 run, LSU was up 15-10. Auburn responded with a 6-point run shortly after. LSU sealed its 3-set victory at 25-23.
Auburn will continue its journey on the road as the team travels to play Missouri in the Hearnes Center on Friday, Oct. 19. The match will be aired on SEC Network+ at 6:30 p.m. CST.
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