Auburn volleyball ended its three-game losing streak on Sunday, defeating the LSU Tigers in straight sets (25-12, 25-14, 25-23). With its win over LSU, Auburn moves to 19-8 overall and 9-7 in the SEC.
“We really, really dominated which was great to see,” said head coach Brent Crouch. “We’ve had a lot of five-setters here and there, but we haven’t had a lot of sweeps in conference…It’s really great to get a win like this heading into the last couple of matches.”
Akasha Anderson led the Tigers with 14 kills, followed by Madison Scheer with 10 kills. Kyla Swanson led Auburn in blocks (seven), followed by Bella Bell (six).
Auburn took control of the match early, dominating LSU in the first set. The Tigers recorded 13 kills, five blocks and one error in the first set, claiming a .632 hitting percentage. The Bayou Bengals managed seven kills on 26 attempts, claiming a .000 hitting percentage.
Early in the first set, Madison Scheer put up back-to-back blocks for Auburn, giving the Tigers a 9-4 lead over LSU and forcing a timeout from the visitors. After LSU’s timeout, Auburn went on a 10-2 scoring run, eventually claiming the set 25-12.
“It’s really exciting to see your teammates do well,” Anderson said. “Blocking someone twice in a row, straight down is kind of out of the ordinary. So that was really, really cool. It hyped everyone up.”
The second set followed the script of the first one closely for Auburn. In the second set, the Tigers held LSU to a .000 hitting percentage as the Bayou Bengals picked up seven errors. Auburn finished the set with 13 kills, two errors and a .458 hitting percentage.
LSU fought back in the third set, serving to tie the match at 24-23, but Auburn stayed consistent, with a kill from Akasha Anderson ending the match after a third-set defensive battle.
“The defense always starts with the serve,” Crouch said. “We were hitting some pretty good serves early on, and we were really disciplined about where we were going to stand on defense, and that’s the trick.”
Auburn finished the night with three aces, 12 blocks and 46 kills, snapping its three-game losing streak before the final two games of the season.
The Tigers will face Alabama at home on Wednesday, Nov. 22. First serve is at 6:30 p.m. CST and will be streamed on SEC Network+.
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Grace Heim is a junior from Enterprise, Alabama, majoring in English Literature. She started with The Plainsman in January 2023.
