Despite a monster performance from one of their best players, the Auburn Tigers (16-10, 7-8) fell to LSU (13-13, 6-9) inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in their second five-set match in three days.
Auburn opened conference play earlier this season 4-1, but has gone 3-7 to close the regular season. The Tigers end the SEC slate on a four-game losing streak, but their 7-8 in-conference record is still strong enough to rank ninth in the league.
Head coach Brent Crouch spoke on the strength of the SEC after the game, highlighting the brutal test that the conference presents night in and night out, but believes his squad is also talented enough to beat anyone on their schedule.
“For a lot of reasons, this one hurts. An incredible effort from this group to rise to the challenge both physically and emotionally,” Crouch said. “Every team in this league is good. I’ve been saying that all season. And I’m including us in there too. We’re all capable of beating each other on any given night.”
Auburn dropped the first set 25-21 in a neck-and-neck opening period of play, but offense wasn’t the issue for the Tigers.
After posting 13 kills in Auburn’s loss to Texas on Wednesday, senior hitter Bel Zimmerman picked up right where she left off, recording four kills on 12 swings in the first set. Sophomore Lauren Dreves added four of her own, leading Auburn to hit .243 with three aces.
The Orange and Blue Tigers bounced back in the second set behind a dominant outing from the service line led by Liza Markovska, Kalei Edson, and Kate Mansfield. The set was tied 9-9 at one point, but Markovska managed to dial up a 10-0 run to give Auburn a comfortable lead. The Tigers’ commanding performance from the service line held LSU to just .025 hitting, and Auburn claimed a 25-14 victory to even the match at one set apiece.
Dreves headlined the second frame for Auburn offensively, tallying eight kills in the second set alone en route to a career-high 24 kills on the night.
Auburn kept the momentum steady in the third set, as Dreves, Markovska, and setters Edson and Shanelle Puetz orchestrated a hitting percentage of .289. The Tigers and the Bayou Bengals found themselves deadlocked at 18-18 midway through the frame, but the Auburn offense was too much as the Orange and Blue Tigers took set No. 3 by a score of 25-22.
However, LSU turned it up another notch in the final two sets, posting a .382 hitting percentage in the fourth frame and forcing a decisive fifth set.
Auburn trailed by as many as four in the fifth set, but was able to even the final frame at 12-12. LSU claimed the match’s last three points, courtesy of two attack errors by Markovska, handing the visiting Tigers their eighth conference loss of the year.
“I thought for large portions of the match, we were in control. Certainly, in that second set and most of the third, we were serving well and the setters were doing a great job managing our offense. We just weren’t able to get them off the net enough in the fourth and fifth,” Crouch said. “With the outsides they have, we needed to get them out of system more often. It was a great fight. I’m proud of this team and how much they left on the floor.”
Auburn tied a season-high in digs with 71, matching the performance against Vanderbilt in early October, while Dreves continued to show out, notching her eight double-double of the season with 15 digs in addition to her 24 kills.
The 2025 SEC Tournament is next up for Crouch and company, which is set for Nov. 21-25 next week in Savannah, Ga. The Tigers will hope for an impressive showing in the Peach State, as they sit on the NCAA Tournament bubble and hope to hear their name called on Selection Sunday on Nov. 30.
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Gunner is a freshman majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in the fall 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @norene_gunner10
