The No. 24 Auburn Tigers returned home determined to get a win after suffering a 3-0 loss to No. 14 Arkansas on Wednesday. On Sunday, Auburn faced Georgia and took the Dawgs for a walk, winning the match 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 18-25, 25-20).
“I thought it was just a really big win. We had a pretty tough loss against Arkansas and Georgia is a great team," said head coach Brent Crouch. "They just went five [sets] with Kentucky and went five [sets] with Florida. To come back and have a really good showing, I thought was huge.”
Like Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday, Neville Arena was decked in orange and packed with passionate fans cheering on their Tigers.
The entire match was a lot of back-and-forth between Georgia and Auburn, with the Bulldogs holding a 39.1 point scoring percentage while the Tigers was 40.2%.
Both teams struggled with errors. Auburn recorded 16 attacking errors, 13 service errors and two blocking errors compared to Georgia’s 24 attacking errors, 15 service errors and three blocking errors.
Sophomore Madison Scheer had another killer game on the front row, recording 14 kills with only two errors, a .414 hitting percentage and 14.5 points. Sophomore pin hitter Akasha Anderson led Auburn’s offense with 17 kills and 19.5 points. Sophomore middle blocker Kendal Kemp had a solid game, securing eight kills with no errors, a .667 H% and 10 points.
Defensively, junior libero Paige Thibault led Auburn’s back row with 10 digs. Senior setter Jackie Barrett and sophomore libero Sarah Morton followed Thibault’s lead with eight digs. Kemp led the front row with four blocks as Anderson and graduate middle blocker Kyla Swanson followed with three blocks, respectively.
Errors prevented Georgia from maintaining its rhythm offensively, but its defense kept the Dawgs in the match, making several remarkable saves.
Senior libero Mallory Downing led Georgia’s back row with 10 digs as junior setter Clara Brower and junior defensive specialist Bailey Cox followed Downing’s lead with nine digs. On the front row, freshman middle blocker Ceci Gooch collected four blocks while Estelle Haugen had three.
Graduate outside hitter Kacie Evans led Georgia’s offense with 16 kills, a .367 H% and one serving ace. Senior middle blocker Sophie Fischer and sophomore outside hitter Haugen followed Evans’ lead. Fischer recorded 12 kills, one ace and 14 points, while Haugen and Gooch had eight kills.
During the game, the Tigers’ 2022 NCAA Tournament run was honored with a banner that now hangs in the rafters of Neville Arena.
The Auburn Tigers now head back on the road for a three-game road trip. Auburn begins its road trip in The Swamp against No. 4 Florida on Oct. 6 at 6 p.m. CST, with South Carolina on Oct. 8 and No. 8 Tennessee on Oct. 13.
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Caitlyn Griffin is a sophomore from Huntsville, Alabama, majoring in journalism. She started with The Plainsman in fall 2022.
Twitter: @caitlyngrif99
