Senior libero Alexis Dacosta’s career afternoon wasn’t enough to carry Auburn past Florida State on Sunday.
Dacosta finished with a career-best 25 digs, running down balls across all four sets, but the Tigers ultimately dropped the match to the Seminoles, 3–1 (21–25, 25–18, 25–22, 25–14).
Florida State’s serving was the key decider of the match, making it difficult for setters Kalei Edson and Shanelle Puetz to consistently feed their hitters.
Head coach Brent Crouch admitted afterward that the Seminoles had the edge in that department.
“FSU just made things difficult from the service line, and we couldn’t get into a rhythm enough offensively,” he said. “There isn’t anything major that we need to fix in practice. We’ll keep grinding away on the little things, and we’ll be in a good position when we get to Birmingham next week.”
Early on, Auburn looked like the stronger side. Edson sparked an 11-0 run from the service line in the first set, and sophomore outside hitter Lauren Dreves capitalized, landing eight kills on her first 12 swings.
By the end of the frame, Auburn had survived a late FSU push to secure a 25-21 win and an early 1-0 lead.
The Seminoles responded quickly in the second. They opened on an 8-2 run that put the Tigers in catch-up mode. Although Dreves kept swinging, adding five more kills to bring her total to 16 on the day, service errors proved costly.
Auburn climbed back to within three at 20-17, but Florida State closed strong to even the match.
Momentum remained with the home side to start the third, as the Seminoles jumped ahead by six.
That’s when Auburn pieced together its biggest surge of the day: Zoe Slaughter stepped to the line and sparked an 8-0 run that flipped the score to 19-17 in favor of the Tigers.
Dreves, Liz Markovska and Anja Havlicek all contributed kills during the stretch, with Markovska finishing with 14 kills and 10 digs for her second double-double of the season, and Dreves marking her seventh double-digit kill match in eight games. Still, with the score tied at 22, Florida State’s offense found just enough to claim the final three points and pull ahead 2-1 in the match.
The fourth set belonged to Florida State. Aggressive serving and steady attack efficiency prevented Auburn from gaining traction, and the Seminoles closed out the afternoon with a 25-14 win.
Crouch pointed out that while Florida State’s serving pressure tilted the match, he was encouraged by how his team responded to adversity.
“I liked how we fought back at times in the second set, and definitely that 8-0 run in the third,” he said. “Florida State is super talented, and Chris (Poole) is a tremendous coach. I knew today was going to be a challenge.”
Despite the outcome, Auburn showed stretches of high-level play on both sides of the ball, from serving runs that sparked momentum to defensive rallies that kept them in tight sets. T
he Tigers demonstrated their ability to respond to pressure and generate comebacks, even against the seasoned Florida State squad. With small adjustments, Crouch believes his squad is well-positioned heading into next week’s trip to Birmingham.
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