Auburn, Ala—On September 22, 2023, heartbreak strikes in Neville Arena as the Auburn Tigers lost their SEC season opener three sets to two against the Florida Gators.
The atmosphere headed into tonight’s game was electric, as it was the start of SEC conference play and for the first time in Auburn volleyball history, Neville Arena would see a top 25 matchup between the 24th ranked Auburn Tigers and third ranked Florida Gators.
Even though the game ended in heartbreak for the Auburn Tigers, both teams played their hearts out and gave it their all in what will probably be one of the best SEC volleyball games of the entire season.
The Auburn Tigers gave it their all in the match against Florida, and one of the best things for the team is that they won a set against Florida for the first time since 2018. They not only managed to win one set, but they won two sets, winning the first set 25-20 and the third set 26-24.
Despite ultimately losing in the fifth set 17-15, the Auburn Tigers played a very even match against a much better-ranked Florida Gators team. Both the overall team statistics and final scores of each set reflect how competitive the game was, with Auburn having 57 kills to Florida’s 59 and the Tigers having a hit percentage of .196 to the Gator’s .204.
However, as with all losses, there is much that can be learned from a defeat, especially when the match was so competitive and came down to the wire.
One of the key takeaways that Auburn needs to decrease their service errors, as the squad recorded 20 total service errors throughout the duration of the match. If the Tigers want to win against better opponents, they most certainly need to work on reducing their service errors since those are just free points for the opposing team.
Overall, both teams gave it their all and fought to the finish in an exciting match with heartbreak coming at the end for the Auburn Tigers. However, on a positive note, in weeks Auburn heads to Gainesville to rematch against Florida, and if they play even better than they did tonight against the Gators they may be able to pull off a win on the road against a very strong Florida Gators squad.
Auburn can’t look too far into the future though, as they still have three games between now and their next match against Florida. Auburn looks to rebound as they face off against Ole Miss in Neville Arena this Sunday. The match is slated for a 2:00 p.m. start with broadcasted provided by SECN+ and WEGL 91.1 FM.
