In the second-to-last meet of the regular season, Arkansas was able to make a statement with a 3-0 sweep against Auburn in Neville Arena (23-18, 25-10, 25-23). Both teams entered the match in need of a win to boost their resume for a potential bid into the NCAA Tournament.
With the win, the Razorbacks (19-8, 10-7) advanced their win streak over the Tigers (21-7, 10-7) to four matches, a stretch that dates back to the 2019 season.
The Tigers were able to combine for 12 total blocks, which marks 14 matches this season where the team has been able to finish with 10 or more. Auburn had some small wins throughout the competition, but it was the first time the Razorbacks were able to win on the Plains since 2014.
It was the Tigers' first home game in 19 days, after a road trip that included a 3-1 win in Oxford against Ole Miss and a 2-3 loss on Wednesday to South Carolina in Columbia.
The match started off back and forth, with Auburn and Arkansas trading points in a first set that included five ties and four lead changes. Arkansas’s 5-0 and 4-0 runs to close out the first set were an early sign of how the match would progress.
The Razorbacks pounced Auburn in the second set, jumping out to a 12-4 lead before head coach Brent Crouch called an Auburn timeout to stop the bleeding. Auburn's offense, until it was too late, was never able to get into a rhythm with a team hitting percentage of .000, its lowest of the season. The Razorbacks also dominated Auburn in kills, 39-24, and digs, 52-40.
Taylor Head would lead the way for the Razorbacks with a team high of 12 kills, 10 digs, and a team high in points with 13.5.
As for the Tigers, Akasha Anderson would once again be a team leader with a team high nine kills, a match high 41 attacks, and a team high 10.5 points.
Despite the rough day for the Tiger’s offense, when all seemed lost in the match and with Arkansas on the verge of a sweep up 24-17 in the third set, Auburn went on a 6-0 run to bring the score to 24-23. That effort was not enough, though, and the Tigers ultimately fell to the Razorbacks 25-23 in the set and dropped the first of two matches.
Auburn will look to use the momentum generated late in the third set to knock off Arkansas Nov. 26 when the teams matchup for the regular season finale. The match will commence inside of Neville Arena at 7 p.m. CST, streaming on the SEC Network+ and the ESPN app.
Following that final match with the Razorbacks comes the NCAA Selection Show, airing Nov. 27 on ESPNU. The top 32 teams will receive a national seed, with 64 total teams being selected to participate in the NCAA Tournament.
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