The Auburn Tigers traveled north and faced off against the No. 19 Minnesota Gophers and LIU in the Diet Coke Classic on Friday and Saturday. Minnesota snapped the Tigers undefeated streak with a 3-0 win (25-21, 25-22, 25-16) on Friday, but Auburn swept LIU 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 32-30) on Saturday.
The Gophers caught an early lead due to the team's impressive serving techniques. Auburn pushed through and managed to even the score with two standout aces from libero Alexis Dacosta and one from Lauren Dreves.
Dreves continued her stellar performance this set with five kills on .333 hitting. This pushed Auburn to raise the scoreboard to a close 23-21. Minnesota managed to close out the first set 25-21, but Auburn did not give up.
The second set opened with Auburn on a 5-0 run with Dreves at the service line. Auburn's defense was determined to keep the lead by gaining ball control, and Dacosta reached 500 career digs. Skilled defense allowed kills from both Bella Bell and Madison Scheer. Minnesota’s strong serves once again brought them into the lead in the set.
When Auburn’s serve-receive succeeded, the offense was able to shine and close the gap. Scheer added an additional five kills in the set. While still behind, Auburn managed to earn four straight points with the help of multiple kills from Dreves and a strong block from Chelsey McCurdy and Bel Zimmerman. However the Tigers rally was not enough, and Auburn dropped the second set to Minnesota 25-22.
Set three continued with Minnesota having multiple serving runs that made Auburn fall behind. The Gophers hit their best percentage of the evening this set as the Tigers struggled to keep up but were able to outscore the Gophers 13-8 for the rest of the set.
Auburn followed its first loss of the season against No. 19 ranked Minnesota with a bounce-back win against LIU in straight sets to beat the Sharks 3-0 on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers have now swept five of the seven teams they have beaten this season.
Freshman Lauren Dreves and Peyton Dunn were the top performers in the match. Dreves recorded her second double-double of the season—with 10 kills and a team high 19 digs. Her 19 digs also tied a career high for the freshman. Dunn also recorded a double-double, her third of the season, with 20 assists and 10 digs.
“It was good to get a win today,” said Auburn head coach Brent Crouch. “I thought we came out in the first and second sets with the energy that I wanted to see. After last night, for the team to come out and play that well in those sets was really positive. A couple of things to clean up in that third set but it’s a testament to everyone that we rallied and got out of here with a sweep.”
Auburn had no problems in the first two stanzas, winning comfortably by at least 10 points in both sets. It was in the third set that the Sharks gave the Tigers some trouble and the match started to get interesting.
The Tigers were down by three points late in the third, 23-20, and it seemed the Sharks could pull out of the set and keep the match going. Though three kills from Sheer and two errors by the Sharks allowed the Tigers to regain the lead at 25-24 for match point for Auburn.
LIU would not allow the Tigers' comeback to deter them, as the two teams would go back and forth for a total of eight set points. Auburn would eventually close out the match with a block assist by Emma Moore and Kalei Edson to win the set 32-30 and give the Tigers their 7th win of the season.
Madison Sheer, the pre-season all American, continues to lead the offense as she led the team in kills alongside teammate Bel Zimmerman with 12 kills apiece, reaching double-digits for the fifth time this season. Auburn had 50 kills on the day compared to LIU’s 32.
The Tigers led in total digs with 66 compared to the Sharks 52. Dreves, Dunn and Paige Thibault contributed 45 of those 66 digs to the Tigers back line on defense.
Auburn has continued its winning streak under Crouch when it hits above .300 to 21 matches. The Tigers also managed to hold the Sharks to a .112 hitting percentage. The front line of Moore, Chelsey McCurdy, and Bella Bell kept the Sharks from getting much going on the offensive side.
Next up, Auburn heads to Birmingham, Ala. to take on the Samford Bulldogs on Sept. 19. First serve is at 6:30 p.m. CST.
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Grace is a Sophomore majoring in Speech Language Hearing Sciences. She joined the Plainsman in the spring of 2024.
William Halliday is a junior journalism major from Memphis, Tennessee. He started with the Plainsman in fall 2022.
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