The Auburn Tigers saw their season come to an end Thursday night, as the team finished in third place at the NCAA Regional Semifinals in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
After a dominating performance from No. 2 LSU to begin the meet, it came down to a three-way battle for second place between Auburn, Clemson and Nebraska to see which team would advance to the Sweet 16.
Despite outscoring both teams in the vault and floor events, a shaky performance on uneven bars hindered Auburn’s chances of advancing significantly. Ultimately, the Clemson Tigers emerged with the highest score of the three schools, finishing with an all-around score of 196.800.
Auburn got off to a solid start on the balance beam, finishing with a score of 49 flat, just .225 points behind Clemson. The back half of Auburn’s rotation scored three consecutive 9.825s after a slow start to the event, helping keep Auburn in a close heat with Clemson. The two Tiger teams remained neck and neck throughout the night, with each team taking two events of their own. Auburn answered back strongly in their next rotation.
The gap between the two teams shrank even more during floor exercises, as Auburn outscored Clemson by .125 in the event, drawing their deficit to just a tenth of a point halfway through. Auburn received four scores of 9.850 or better in the event, including a 9.875 from junior Olivia Greaves. Sophomore Marissa Neal finished as the leading scorer of the rotation for the Tigers, however, receiving her first of two 9.9 scores of the evening.
The orange and blue Tigers kept up their pace on the vault, edging out Clemson by 0.025 with a score of 49.250. The team finished with five scores of 9.8 or higher in the event.
Neal led the way for the team, with a score of 9.9 in the event. Neal was the standout performer for the Tigers on the night, finishing with both of the team’s scores of 9.9 or higher.
Despite mounting an impressive comeback and cutting the Clemson lead to just 0.050 heading into the final event, uneven bars, Auburn was unable to take second place late.
After back-to-back scores of 9.850 from freshman Charlotte Booth and junior Julianne Huff, the team’s leader in the all-around for the meet, the Tigers struggled on the back half. Four of the Tigers’ eight scores of 9.7 or lower came in this event, as the team would see back-to-back falls happen, finishing with a score of 47.975 in the event.
Clemson secured second place with a score of 49.200, eliminating Auburn from advancement.
It was a heartbreaking end to the meet, during which the Tigers appeared to have been building up momentum throughout. Auburn’s season came to an end despite a valiant effort.
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Jonathan is a freshman majoring in industrial and systems engineering. He started with The Plainsman in the fall of 2025.
