KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Auburn (14-4, 4-3) gave the No. 10 Lady Volunteers (16-1, 7-0) all they could handle for four sets. It was Tennessee, though, who managed a few more plays to grab the victory, 3-1 (25-19, 21-25, 25-21, 25-17).
Kendal Kemp and the front row started off hot early. Four blocks from the Eagan, Minnesota native had Auburn up 10-7 in the early going to force a Lady Vol timeout.
Kemp would finish with nine rejections for the second straight match. She wasn't too shabby offensively, piling up nine kills on .467 hitting.
Tennessee countered with a big serving run, though. The momentum-changer carried the home side to an 8-0 run. The Tigers went from hitting north of .400 in the early parts of set one to sub .100 midway through.
As the serves improved for Auburn, so did the score. Brent Crouch's squad got as close as 20-18 before one last run from the Lady Vols closed out the frame.
The two heavyweight SEC teams were hard to separate at the front end of set No. 2. Much like the first stanza, with the set tied at seven, the Lady Vols went a quick 4-0 run to take the lead. This time, though, Auburn was ready to counterpunch.
With junior Paige Thibault at the line, the Tigers ran off an 8-1 run to flip the script and take the lead. One they wouldn't let go of.
AVCA Player of the Week Madison Scheer, Akasha Anderson, and Kendal Kemp made it up to seven kills apiece as Auburn tied up the match.
Scheer turned in a team-high 11 kills with a career-high in digs (5) and tied her career-best in blocks (6).
Set three turned out to be just as exciting as the second. Back and forth the two schools traded blows with very little differentiating each other.
Auburn swung for its best percentage of the evening at .262 thanks to solid passing and Jackie Barrett's even distribution. Serving runs from Barrett and Chelsey Harmon gave the Tigers the early advantage.
The Orange and Blue back row was just as busy. Both Barrett and Sarah Morton sailed well into double-figure dig totals.
Bel Zimmerman, Anderson, Scheer, and Kemp all had eight kills by the end of the set three.
Crouch's squads rarely ever quit, demonstrated brilliantly as the longest rally of the year for Auburn went the Tigers' way to tie things up at 21.
A brief spurt from Tennessee, though, gave the frame to the Lady Vols, and the Tigers were forced to come from behind once again.
Unforced errors from Auburn let the Lady Vols run out to a 9-2 run to open the fourth.
Always a difficult hole to dig out of, Auburn did the best they could to climb out of it. Anderson produced a 5-1 late in the set, refusing to go home early.
The deficit proved too much, however, as the Tigers dropped just their fourth match of the season, 3-1.
MATCH NOTES
- Auburn's 14 blocks marked the eighth match this season the Tigers piled up at least 10
- Jackie Barrett (31 assists, 11 digs) notched her team-leading ninth double-double of the season
- Akasha Anderson reached double figures in kills for the 14th time this year (10)
- Madison Scheer reached double figures in kills for the 13th time this season (11)
- Scheer's five digs were a career-best and her six blocks tied a career-high
- Sarah Morton (18 digs) reached double figures for the ninth time this year
- Kendal Kemp registered nine blocks for the second straight match, tying for the second most in a single match this season
CROUCH'S COMMENTS
"I thought it was just an inconsistent performance on our side. We had times when we were playing really well, and we were beating them. And then there were times where we just couldn't put things together. Just needed to put better contacts in a row. When we're really clicking, we're serving tough. I didn't think we served at the level that we normally serve. The one set we did, we won. When we went on good runs like at the end of the fourth, we were serving tough. We've got to make sure that we're learning how to do that on the road against really good teams because that's the key for us to win."
UP NEXT
Auburn returns to Neville Arena on Friday, Oct. 20 when the Tigers face Missouri at 6 p.m. CT for Dig Pink Night.