AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn (7-1) entered the weekend in Minnesota seeking to remain undefeated but ultimately fell to No. 19 Minnesota (4-3) on Friday before responding with a three sets-to-none win over Long Island (1-8) on Saturday. The weekend posed the first match for Auburn away from Neville Arena this season, providing opportunities for improvement moving forward.
The Golden Gophers were the second-highest-ranked team the Tigers had faced so far this season. Auburn knocked off No. 15 Florida State leading up to this weekend but could not find the same success on Friday night. Minnesota defeated Auburn three sets to none Friday night but that does not tell the whole story.
Auburn was competitive in each set, but could not manage to win one. Auburn lost the first set by three, the second set by four, and the largest deficit came in the third which Auburn lost by nine. Freshman Lauren Dreves arguably had the best match for the Tigers. Dreves had five kills and a .333 hitting percentage Friday night. Dreves' effort helped give Auburn a chance in the match.
It was a tough match for Auburn, but Auburn head coach Brent Crouch was pleased with the effort of his team.
“Once the ball started to get back over the net, back and forth, in transition and even on first ball when we were serving, we played very good defense," Crouch said after the Minnesota match. That second set in particular, we held them to .091. That is just an incredibly good serving team. Everyone that I’ve talked to who's played them has said that’s the best-serving team they’ve seen. It looked like that on video. It’s really tough to be a team that’s serving like that. We had some good runs but there’s also some room to grow there. But I love where we are at this point of the year.”
The Tigers responded to their first loss well on Saturday. Auburn faced a lesser opponent in Long Island compared to Minnesota, but that did not affect the level of play. The Tigers played well on Saturday defeating Long Island three sets to none. It was a great bounce-back win.
"After last night, for the team to come out and play that well in those sets was really positive," Crouch said. A couple of things to clean up in that third set but it’s a testament to everyone that we rallied and got out of here with a sweep.”
Next up, Auburn will face Samford on Thursday in the Alabama Showdown in Birmingham, Alabama. The three-day tournament will give Auburn another chance to grow as a team away from Neville Arena. The match against Samford will begin at 4 p.m. CT Thursday on the Auburn Sports Network.
