AUBURN, Ala. – Head coach Brent Crouch and the Auburn Tigers (20-9, 10-8) did nearly all they could, taking No. 9 Arkansas (25-5, 25-3) to extra points in the fifth set in front of a record crowd in Neville Arena. It was the Razorbacks, though, who managed to make a couple of plays late to steal the instant classic, 3-2 (21-25, 25-16, 19-25, 25-21, 17-15).
From the get-go, the Orange and Blue block ignited the crowd in the opening set. Bella Bell and Kyla Swanson started building a wall and never relented throughout Friday afternoon. The dynamic blocking duo combined for seven block assists in the first frame alone.
Of course, none of it would have been possible without stout serving. Fallan Lanham was the only Tiger to dial up an ace but Swanson, Jackie Barrett, Sarah Morton and Akasha Anderson all kicked Arkansas out of system to set up deep scoring runs and an 80-percent side-out mark.
Barrett kept the offensive distribution fairly even early. Anderson and Madison Scheer each swung for four kills while Bella Bell added three to the cause. Barrett's third assist of the match signaled the 3,000th of her career, becoming just the fifth player in program history to reach the mark.
A hitting percentage north of .300 and four monstrous blocks paved the way to an opening set win, Auburn's first set over the Razorbacks since 2021.
Arkansas is a top-10 team in the country for a reason, however. The visiting side leaned on tough serving, scrappy defense and four kills from five different attackers to race out to a sizeable lead in the second set.
The Tigers delivered two more blocks and two aces from Morton but it was enough to catch the Razorbacks as the match drew square at one set apiece.
Four of Scheer's 17 total kills came in the fourth set, hitting a robust .273 along the way. But it was Auburn's defense that powered the team throughout. Morton ran down five of her season-high 25 digs on the afternoon and Bella Bell added two more blocks to her total.
For Bell, her 10 total blocks on Friday set a season-high and tied her career-best. Kendal Kemp wouldn't finish too far behind with nine and Swanson added five more to the total.
Anderson, on the other hand, exploded for a career-high 20 digs, notching her eighth double-double with 13 kills.
Holding the Razorbacks to just .103 hitting allowed the Tigers to flip the script in the middle of the set and run away with a 25-19 win to take the lead, 2-1.
Once more, Arkansas powered back in the fourth. Even though Scheer, Anderson and Swanson each tallied three kills, it was difficult to keep pace with the visitors. Auburn ran off a few points late but the Razorbacks inevitably forced a decisive fifth and final set.
Back on the fourth, each team traded body blows to start the final stanza. Swanson found a myriad of success out of the middle, grabbing five of her eight kills in the last two sets alone.
Thunderous blocks from Bell, Kemp, Anderson, Swanson and Barrett never let their opponents out of reach. Neither side led by more than three points at any stage.
Tensions reached an all-time high as the Tigers fought off two match points to send the raucous crowd into a frenzy. Ultimately, Arkansas found the right spots at the right time, taking the dramatic 3-2 win to finish the regular season.
MATCH NOTES
- The 2,711 fans in attendance marked the program record for Neville Arena. It's the second time this season Auburn has broken the attendance record, previously hosting 2,529 fans on Nov. 8 against Kentucky.
- Auburn's 82 digs signaled a season-high for the Tigers
- With 15 team blocks, Auburn has now reached double digits for 15th time this season and the fourth match in a row
- Madison Scheer (17 kills) has reached double digits in 23 matches this season
- Sarah Morton (25 digs) set a new season-high and reached the 20-dig mark for the fourth time this year
- Akasha Anderson (13 kills, 20 digs) notched her ninth double-double of the season and set a new career-high in digs
- Fallan Lanham's 16 digs were a season-best
- Bella Bell's 10 blocks were a season-high and tied her career, a total she set last year at Arkansas while playing with Kentucky.
- Jackie Barrett (40 assists, 11 digs) secured her team-leading 15th double-double
CROUCH'S COMMENTS
Head coach, Brent Crouch
"Obviously, it was a nice step forward against Arkansas. They've had our number the last three matches that we've played them. The last three matches, I don't think we took a set off them. They're a really high-level team, a lot of seniors and grad students. They're ninth in the country for a reason. We made up some ground and had a chance there at the end. We held them to .187. That's well below what they normally attack. We had 15 blocks, a bunch of digs, and to see us play defense like that heading in the tournament is fantastic. It was great to see some wrinkles in our serving game, adding some short serves and that really gave them trouble in a bunch of different sets. I'm real proud of our team. We've also not been able to score on them very much. While .144 & .150 isn't a great number, that's significantly better than what we've done against them recently. At the end of that match, the first thing I said to the coaches was 'We closed that gap' with them from where we were a year ago. The one earlier in the year was a fluke a little bit. We didn't have our starting lineup but we clearly made up some ground and we are excited to head into the tournament now."
So. OH, Madison Scheer
On feeling different from Wednesday's match…
"Something I kind of took away that I was thinking about the past couple of minutes is we did a really good job of shaking off whenever they got good points. I think it's just hard to do in general. That's a momentum builder for the other team. So we did a really good job. Jackie was always coming in the huddle and was like 'Okay, they got that point, now we get this point' and 'We are going to pass this ball, we are one-and-done here'. I think that kind of mentality really helped us throughout that whole match, no matter if we were up or down."
UP NEXT
Auburn will await its seeding in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, Nov. 26. The Selection Show begins at 5 p.m. CT and will be broadcast live on ESPN. Members of the public are welcome to join the team in the celebration in the Anderson Tiger Den located on the first floor of the Harbert Family Recruiting Center in the southwest corner of Jordan-Hare Stadium. Doors will open at 4:45 p.m. CT.