AUBURN. Ala. – Another day in Neville had Auburn fans checking their pulses following an exhausting, yet exhilarating four-set affair on Sunday.
Facing Texas A&M for the second time in as many days, the Tigers cranked out a 3-1 (25-21, 29-27, 24-26, 33-31) victory but it was far from identical. Three straight deuce sets had the Orange and Blue faithful on the edge of their seats for over two and half hours with the Tigers finally claiming victory in dramatic fashion to secure its first 20-win season in over a decade.
On Saturday, it was junior setter Jackie Barrett orchestrating one of the most balanced attacks of the season. Sunday proved no different in the opening set.
Freshman Madison Scheer came to the gym with something to prove. Four kills on 10 swings set the pace for Auburn. Akasha Anderson and Chelsey Harmon each added three kills apiece to aid the effort.
And much like the first match against the Aggies, a disruptive serving performance helped facilitate things on the defensive end. Both Anderson and Jordan Sinness dialed up aces as Auburn ran off to a 25-21 first-set win and the early lead.
Slowly but surely, the Tiger attack began to find a rhythm that was hard to ignore. The second frame featured a whole lot of Akasha Anderson and the freshman wasn't going to apologize.
Texas A&M had no answer for the Reston, Virginia product as the right-hander put down a monstrous nine kills on 17 attacks in the second set alone.
Auburn crept out to a four-point lead late in the set but the Aggies made a run to tie it at 22, setting up what would be the first of three incredible finishes to each set.
Trading blow after blow, neither side seemed to find any separation until a Scheer kill and strong serve from Jackie Barrett ultimately forced the Aggie error to give the Tigers the two-set advantage.
Sunday's third set was strikingly similar to the second. Anderson and Harmon each bagged three kills, Fallan Lanham, Zoe Slaughter and Barrett all collected at least one ace and Kendal Kemp conjured up a couple of huge blocks.
Another late four-point lead had Auburn in reach of the victory. However, once more Texas A&M proved they weren't ready to head home to College Station just yet, rattling off another run.
As the set drifted into extra points for a second straight occasion, this time Auburn couldn't find the counter punch to seal the deal.
Almost unfathomably, the two programs would outdo themselves in the fourth set.
While both sides didn't win any medals for the best serving set of the match, the playmaking on display was still spectacular.
For the Tigers, Scheer and Anderson piled up six kills each. Anderson would finish the night with a match-high 21 while Scheer secured 14.
Kendal Kemp slammed home five kills to go along with three epic blocks in the fourth, all part of a nine-kill eight-block performance for the Minnesota native.
Despite all this, the largest lead of the set of either school was just three. In fact, the fourth set featured a staggering 25 ties and nine lead changes.
As the set sailed past the 25-point mark, the excitement amongst the Auburn fans was more than palpable.
Three of the final four points for the Tigers featured the ruthless Orange and Blue trio that had been dominating all evening in Anderson, Scheer and Kemp. With an eighth match point on the table, a difficult serve from Morton drew Texas A&M off the net, setting up an Aggie error and handed Auburn its second win of the weekend, 3-1.
MATCH NOTES
- Auburn improves to 20-5 on the season and 9-5 in the SEC. It's the first 20-win season for the Tigers since 2010.
- The nine conference wins are the most since 2016 (9-9)
- The win also marks Brent Crouch's second 20-win campaign in his coaching career. He previously had 20 wins at USC in 2018.
- Auburn has now won three straight matches over Texas A&M
- The Tigers are now 8-1 at home. Auburn's best season at home came in 1996 (8-1). The best record in the rally-scoring era was in 2015 (11-3).
- Jackie Barrett (48 assists, 13 digs) grabbed her eighth double-double of the season
- The Tigers had four players with at least 10 digs. Fallan Lanham (14), Jackie Barrett (13), Zoe Slaughter (12) and Sarah Morton (11) each made it to double-digits.
- Auburn's 62 kills and 57 were both the most in a four-set match for the Tigers this season
- Kendal Kemp now has 135 blocks on the season, seven behind the single-season record
- Fallan Lanham now has 33 aces on the season which ties for the 7th-most in a single season
UP NEXT
Auburn travels west to Oxford, Mississippi for a Friday night matchup with Ole Miss on Nov. 11. The Tigers will be back home for its final SEC series of the regular season on Nov. 25 and 26 versus Arkansas.
Gallery: (11-6-2022) Volleyball vs Texas A&M (11/6/22)