Despite being one of the tightest matches of the season, the Auburn Tigers (13-6, 4-4) fell to the No. 16 Tennessee Volunteers (14-3, 5-2) in a 3-0 final on Sunday afternoon at the Food City Center.
The sweep in Knoxville marked the Tigers’ third consecutive loss, most recently falling to No. 25 Missouri and No. 3 Kentucky. Despite an impressive 4-1 start to conference play, Auburn now ranks ninth in the SEC, and the Tigers boast a 0-4 record against ranked opponents.
Tennessee opened the first set with a quick 6-0 lead on the Tigers, but a strong Auburn counterpunch closed the gap, bringing it to a 12-14 deficit. The middle and right sides of the Auburn offense found the most success, with Bel Zimmerman posting five kills in the set and Grace Havlicek recording three.
Havlicek ended the afternoon with eight kills, which matched her career high as an Auburn Tiger.
Auburn held the powerful Tennessee offense to just .200 hitting, but the comeback ultimately fell short, dropping the first set, 23-25.
The second set was much more back-and-forth and featured eight ties. The Tigers jumped to a 4-1 advantage early in the set and never trailed until the Volunteers claimed a 20-19 lead off of a kill from Hayden Kubik.
Auburn found itself down 19-22 a few points later, but a three-point rally tied the set at 23-23. However, a kill by Chelsea Sutton and an attack error committed by Liz Markovska resulted in a 23-25 loss in set two, giving Tennessee a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set easily marked the most dramatic and intense set of the afternoon, which saw 14 ties and six lead changes. The Tigers and Volunteers battled competitively throughout the entirety of the set, and the largest margin throughout the set was just three.
Auburn tied the set at 24-24 in the late stages, but Tennessee’s next two points – one of which was a serve error by freshman Greer Chambless – secured the sweep and sent Auburn home with its fourth SEC loss.
“Certainly is frustrating to have a result like that. I thought we played much better than a sweep,” head coach Brent Crouch said. “It was good to get Greer (Chambless) in there, and I felt she certainly found a rhythm there in the third set. It’s encouraging to be this close against ranked teams on the road, but I also think we left a little on the table there. The end of sets is obviously something we need to work on, and we will before Arkansas on Wednesday.
Greer, a true freshman, recorded seven kills in her first appearance in the Orange and Blue, while Lauren Dreves notched her team-leading sixth double-double of the season.
Dreves tallied 10 kills on Sunday, meaning she has reached double digits in all but two matches this season.
The Tigers will hope to rebound against Arkansas in Neville Arena on Wednesday, Oct. 22, at 6 p.m. CST on SEC Network before hitting the road for a three-game stint at Oklahoma, at South Carolina, and at Georgia.
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Gunner is a freshman majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in the fall 2024.
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