The regular season ended in less-than-ideal fashion for Auburn when it was swept in straight sets for the fifth-consecutive match against Mississippi State on Friday.
Still, the 13-win season is the most wins since 2017 and a step in the right direction for second-year head coach Brent Crouch.
Auburn played right below Mississippi State for most of the match, especially in sets one and two. On rare occasions where Auburn developed multiple-score leads, the Bulldogs went on runs to close the gap and eventually retook control of the match.
While Auburn jumped out to a 8-6 lead in Set 1, Mississippi State went back in front following a service error by Auburn, a Bulldog service ace and a kill by Gabby Waden. The kill by Waden, who leads the team in kills, put Mississippi State back in front 9-8.
The Tigers didn’t back down, as they tied the game five times before eventually taking a 22-21 lead. Mississippi State closed on a 4-1 run to take Set 1.
Set 2 was nearly identical to the first. Auburn took the lead a number of times, but the Bulldogs rallied and finished off the Tigers by the same score as the first set, 25-23.
Auburn was finally able to take control of a set in the third set, going up 4-2 early. Anytime the Bulldogs rallied to try and tie, the Tigers answered with points of their own. They took their biggest lead midway through at 16-12, before Mississippi State started climbing back into the set one point at a time.
At one point, Auburn was up 23-20 and was two scores away from forcing a fourth set. Three straight kills from Mississippi State shut that idea down and tied the game at 23. The two teams then delivered blow-after-blow to each other, before the Bulldogs eventually grabbed a two-score advantage 28-26.
It was game, set and match to end the Tigers’ season.
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Originally from Helena, Ala., Caleb Jones is a senior studying journalism at Auburn University. He has been on staff with The Plainsman since 2019.
You can follow him here on Twitter: @calebjsports
