Auburn (18-8, 8-7) completed their road matchups for the season as they visited the Bulldogs of Mississippi State (12-13, 5-10). Auburn fell in five sets now having dropped their last three matchups. The three-game skid comes as Auburn is looking to make a push going into the NCAA tournament.
The five-set loss in Mississippi is the fifth in the last five matches in Starkville for the Tigers as they looked to break the streak tonight, they couldn’t find enough late to push them over the top.
The two teams alternated sets the whole way as Auburn took the crucial fourth set 26-24 after taking their first lead of the set at 25-24 to send it to the riveting fifth set. The fifth set was knotted at 11-11 and looked as if the Tigers might pull out a victory on the road in the finale of road games for the year, but Mississippi State went on a 4-1 run to win the final set 15-12 leaving the Tigers looking for answers after another disappointing loss.
Akasha Anderson put up an impressive game-high 20 kills tonight in the Auburn loss, she was the highlight of the Auburn offense despite her .182 hitting percentage she had 14 digs for her sixth double-double of the season. Maddison Scheer put up 13 kills good for third in the game on a .227 hitting percentage. Bella Bell, Kendal Kemp, and Kyla Swanson all added seven kills to the Auburn total.
Kendal Kemp's impressive defensive display kept up tonight as she tied her season high and led the match with an impressive ten kills which was more than double Jackie Barret who had the second most in the game with four.
Jackie Barret was able to fill the stat sheet with 45 assists and ten digs, making up her 14th double-double of the year.
The Tigers will finish their impressive season with a three-game homestand beginning Sunday, November 19th when they host LSU in Neville Arena for a 2 pm Central time first serve. The match will be streamed on SECN+ as Auburn looks to right the ship and begin the end of the regular season hot as they look ahead to the NCAA tournament.
