MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Freshman Lauren Dreves delivered her second double-double (10 kills, 19 digs) of her career as Auburn (7-1, 0-0) swept Long Island (1-8, 0-0), 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 30-32), returning back to the Plains with its seventh victory of the season.
Once the Tigers settled into the match, both the Auburn offense and defense found the same rhythm they’ve had early and often this season.
Dreves found three early kills to create some separation from the Sharks, finishing with four on .364 hitting for the set.
Fellow rookie Emma Moore paced the Orange and Blue in the front row, rejecting two LIU attacks. Auburn also got a block apiece from Dreves and Bel Zimmerman. Combined with seven digs each from Dreves and Minnesota product Paige Thibault, the Tigers had the Sharks hitting negative.
A 6-1 scoring run at the end of the set propelled Auburn to the early lead, 25-15.
Confidence in hand, the Tigers received a little bit of everything to open the second set. With Dreves at the service line, the Vancouver, Washington native rattled off a 6-0 run to pull away from LIU.
Blocks from Emma Moore, Chelsey McCurdy and Bella Bell kept the Sharks’ offense from gaining any sort of momentum. Likewise, Thibault, Alexis Dacosta and Dreves owned the back row. Both Thibault and Dreves had 11 digs to their names by the end of the frame. Thibault would run down 16 digs on the afternoon, setting a new season-high.
Kalei Edson even joined in on the offensive onslaught, delivering two timely aces.
Edson and fellow setter Peyton Dunn produced a hitting percentage of .395 in the second set as the Tigers extended their lead, 2-0. Dunn (20 assists and 10 digs) recorded the third double-double of the season for the Decatur, Texas native.
Long Island wasn’t going to go away that easily, though. No team led by more than three points the entire way.
A testament to the resiliency of Brent Crouch’s crew, even when down, 23-20, his Tigers never panicked. Madison Scheer went for back-to-back kills and all of a sudden the race was on.
An ace of Dacosta here and a kill from Edson there brought tensions to an all-time high on Saturday afternoon. Emma Moore finally provided the match-sealing block, her fifth of the match, sending her team home with the sweep, 3-0.
Match Notes
>> Auburn’s .308 hitting percentage marked the third time the Tigers have hit north of .300 this season
>> The Tigers are now 21-0 under crouch when hitting at least .300
>> Auburn held Long Island to .112 hitting and are now 21-2 over the past two seasons when holding opponents below a .200 hitting percentage
>> Lauren Dreves (10 kills, 19 digs) collected the second double-double of her career
>> Dreves’ 19 digs also tied a career-high for the freshman
>> Madison Scheer (12 kills) reached double digits for the fifth time this season
>> Peyton Dunn (20 assists, 10 digs) recorded her third double-double of the season
>> Paige Thibault’s 16 digs were a season-high for senior
>> Bella Humphrey made her Auburn debut
What Crouch had to say…
“It was good to get a win today. I thought we came out in the first and second sets with the energy that I wanted to see. After last night, for the team to come out and play that well in those sets was really positive. 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.”