The Auburn Tigers (21-6, 10-6 SEC) traveled to Columbia, South Carolina, to face off against the South Carolina Gamecocks (13-13, 7-9 SEC) in what would be their last away match of a memorable season. The match would be one to forget as the Tigers fell to the Gamecocks in a close one 3-2 (24-26, 25-18, 20-25, 25-16, 15-10).
Auburn would spark a comeback in the first set after going down early to the Gamecocks. Kendal Kemp would seal the early lead for Auburn with the first of many blocks on the night in yet another dominate performance from the freshman.
Coming off an SEC Defensive Player of the Week award, Kemp backed it the recognition up with an impressive performance which saw her finish with a game-high 10 blocks. It would not stop there for the Eagan, Minnesota, native, as she would go on to dominate the offensive side of the net with a career-high 12 kills to secure her first double-double as a Tiger.
With Auburn up one set, a plethora of errors in the second set would lead to the Tigers not challenging South Carolina at all. The Gamecocks would dominate with there only being one lead change, which was within the first four points of the match.
Once again, Akasha Anderson would show off her versatility while going on to notch her seventh double-double of the season in match that saw her finish with 12 kills and 10 digs to continue her memorable freshman campaign.
Behind the effort from Anderson and Kemp, the script would flip in the third set as Auburn would put together two different stretches down for four points each that would see them secure the match.
However, the Gamecocks would not lose the lead after that. South Carolina would go two full sets without giving Auburn the lead to hand the Tigers their sixth defeat of the year.
Despite the loss, Auburn had multiple players stand out. Along with Kemp and Anderson, Madison Sheer would cap off the trio of Tigers with double digits in the kill column.
Jackie Barrett would make her name stand out as she finished the night with an impressive 47 assists that led her to grab her ninth double-double of the season. The junior would blow everyone else out of the water in terms of assists, as the next closest person on the roster would be Sarah Morton with two. Barrett would add onto her night finishing with seven blocks in only three sets.
Auburn will be back at Neville Arena this Friday and Saturday to face off against Arkansas in the final two matches of the regular season. The first match between the two squads is set to start at 2 p.m. CT Friday afternoon, while the second match is set for a 7 p.m. CT start.
