Auburn traveled to Knoxville, Tenn. on Sunday in hopes of bouncing back from its loss to Alabama on Oct. 16 but fell short despite the Tigers’ dominant offense. The Tigers fell to the Volunteers 3-1 (25-19, 25-19, 15-25, 25).
The loss brings the Tigers to a record of 14-4 overall and 4-3 in the conference.
However on Sunday, the Tigers showed resilience offensively with multiple players stacking up double figure kills. In the second set, they were hitting above .500 with both middle blockers hitting several kills.
Auburn outside hitter Madison Scheer hit double digits in kills (13) for the 15th time this season and for the 11th time in a row.
Outside hitter Bel Zimmerman recorded 15 kills for the 11th time and for her sixth match in a row. Right side hitter Bella Bell had 11 kills, reaching double digits for her 10th time this season and third match in a row.
Bell had seven kills by the end of the second set on a .333 hitting percentage, while Zimmerman also hit above .300 by the end of the third.
Auburn managed to tie the score at 19 points in the second set, however the Vols ended it quickly getting off on a 7-0 run.
Reaching the third set and being down two sets, head coach Brent Crouch knew something needed to change, and the Tigers were not going down without a fight.
In the third set, the Tigers’ offense immediately was aggressive. They took control by going up seven points quickly and forcing the match to go to another se,t winning 25-15.
By the end of the set, Zimmerman and her squad were hitting .545 opposed to Tennessee's .000.
However, having unforced errors ultimately caused the Tigers to fall short, losing 3-1.
Despite the loss, the Tigers out ranked the Vols in several categories — number of points (65.5), kills (52), assists (49) and aces (7). Libero Fallan Lanham contributed by leveraging three aces, making it a season high.
"Obviously, a tough loss today. I thought we had some unforced errors there in the first set that put us behind early and it made it difficult to overcome," Crouch said. "We were able to make a few adjustments in the fourth, particularly at the service line, and it made a huge difference. Winning the SEC is never easy, especially on the road. We’ll be looking forward to returning home to Neville on Friday.”
Less than 10 matches away from the NCAA tournament, the Tigers look to hold out against the rest of their SEC slate in hopes of finishing their season strong. As promising, competitive matches are still to come.
For what's next, the Tigers are back on their home court in Neville Arena where they will face the LSU Tigers on Oct. 25th at 6:30 p.m CST. The match will be televised on SEC Network+.
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Ginny is a junior majoring in sports production. She joined the Plainsman in the fall of 2024.
