The Auburn Tigers (11-2, 2-0) have serious momentum and confidence heading into this Friday’s matchup against the #23 ranked Florida Gators (6-5, 1-1) in Gainesville.
The Tigers are currently on a five-game win streak, including back-to-back conference sweeps against Alabama and Mississippi State, the latter of which was previously undefeated with a road win against the Gators. A win for the Tigers would mark their first ranked win of the season, putting them at 1-1 against ranked teams following a 0-3 sweep against #4 Louisville in August. The Gators have been through a gauntlet this season, with five of their 11 matches being against ranked teams, and four of them being on the road. The Gators went 2-3 in these matches, with their most impressive victory coming against #3 Pitt.
“I continue to be impressed time and time again with how this team competes. Mississippi State is a good team. They proved that on Friday night [against Florida], and they are going to win more matches in this conference,” stated Auburn head coach Brent Crouch. Last season, Crouch’s team began 3-0 in conference play before eventually falling to 4-12, a conference record that the Tigers are hoping to improve upon drastically this season.
Offensively, Auburn is currently playing at a very high level, headlined by Lauren Dreves, who was determined in the Tigers’ matchup against Mississippi State last Sunday. Following a performance in which she put up 14 kills against Alabama, Dreves put up 15 more, marking her 12th match this season with double-digit kills, and her sixth consecutive match with at least 14. Liz Markovska was also a force to be reckoned with, recording her highest kill total of the season at 19. This was also Markovska’s tenth match this season with double digit kills.
On the defensive side, Auburn is also competing at an impressive rate, with Kate Mansfield and Bel Zimmerman both recording five blocks, with this being Mansfield’s fifth straight game with at least five and Zimmerman’s with at least four. Additionally, the Tigers collectively held Mississippi State to .198 hitting, which marks the 11th time in 13 matches that they have held their opponent to below .200 in 2025.
The Florida Gators are looking to begin a win streak against Auburn, following their victory against the Alabama Crimson Tide last Sunday in four sets. "Happy for these guys and was good to dig ourselves out of that hole… When approaching matches, the other team has a goal, too... Teams fight back, so the level of consistency with point scoring versus giving away points just has to continually improve,” said Florida head coach Ryan Theis, who is in his first year of coaching the Gators after 11 years at Marquette.
Redshirt Sophomore Jordyn Byrd enforced her will on the Tide posting a career-high 24 kills. Defensively, the Gators held the Crimson Tide to a .136 hitting percentage, and collectively had a season-high 72 digs, led by freshman Lily Hayes with 19.
Auburn’s blocking ability, led by nationally ranked Kate Mansfield, will compensate well for Florida’s highly talented Jordyn Byrd. With Auburn having a highly talented offense led by Dreves and Markovska as well, this will no doubt be an exciting matchup for both teams.
The Auburn Tigers will play against the Florida Gators in Gainesville, Florida on October 3, 2025, at 6:00 pm CDT. This game will stream on SECN+.
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Braden Hensley | Sports Writer
Braden is a freshman majoring in Aviation Management. He started with the Plainsman in fall 2025.
