BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Defense wins championships and it certainly won the Alabama Showdown for Auburn (10-1, 0-0) as the Tigers knocked off South Alabama (4-6, 0-0) in four sets, 3-1 (20-25, 25-19, 25-19, 25-23) behind 14 blocks and 92 digs.
Brent Crouch and the Tigers’ defense carried over from their performance on Friday into Saturday afternoon’s affair inside Bartow Arena. Three big blocks had Auburn up early in set No. 1.
It was Bel Zimmerman who found the most success offensively. Three kills on her first three swings had the Liberty, Missouri product off and running.
Late in the frame, it was the Jaguars, though, who managed a 6-0 run to take control and the early lead.
Auburn needed its defense back in the second set and the Tigers delivered. Bella Bell, Chelsey McCurdy and Grace Havlicek all jumped in on the effort. Through the first two sets, the Orange and Blue totaled 11 team blocks. Both Bell and McCurdy had six apiece and Havlicek wasn’t far behind with four.
McCurdy would finish with 10 total blocks, matching the graduate’s career best.
After allowing a .294 hitting percentage in the first set, Auburn flipped the scrip to hold South Alabama to .061 in the second.
Offensively, Zimmerman kept swinging and kept delivering. She totaled a team-high eight kills through set two while Madison Scheer and Bella Bell each tallied five.
Back-to-back aces from Kalei Edson gave Auburn the breathing room it needed and McCurdy dealt the deciding blow with an ace of her own to knot up the match at one set each.
Edson and the Tiger servers were back at it during the third set. Auburn added two more aces, including one from the Centralia, Illinois native during a 5-0 run that saw the Tigers take control of the set.
Scheer, Zimmerman and Lauren Dreves continued to gain ground offensively. Both Scheer and Zimmerman reached double figures before the end of the third.
Meanwhile, Dreves, Alexis Dacosta Peyton Dunn, and Paige Thibault were busy running down digs in the back row. All three reached double figures by the end of the third and Dunn had already secured her double-double with a career-high 19 digs.
As a team, the Tigers stacked up a whopping 92 digs, the most since compiling 97 against Texas A&M in 2021.
Scheer simply took over the fourth set. Six kills on .353 hitting paced everyone on the floor. She would finish with a season-high 18 kills on the afternoon.
Even when things got tight toward the end of the frame, Dreves dialed up five stellar serves to give Auburn a 6-0 run.
Needed one last push, Fallan Lanham’s ace tipped the scales in the Tigers’ favor, allowing Auburn to return home with another victory, 3-1.
Match Notes…
>> Auburn improves to 10-1 on the season. The Tigers are 34-2 over the past three seasons during non-conference play
>> The Tigers' 92 digs were the most this season and the most since compiling 97 against Texas A&M in 2021
>> Madison Scheer’s 18 kills were a season-high for the junior
>> Lauren Dreves’ 20 digs were a career-best
>> Bella Bell’s eight blocks were a season-high
>> Chelsey McCurdy’s 10 blocks tied her career-high
>> Peyton Dunn’s 19 digs were a career-high
>> Dunn notched her fourth double-double of the season with 20 assists and 19 digs
>> Paige Thibault’s 16 digs tied her season best
>> Kalei Edson’s three aces tied her season-high
>> Grace Havlicek earned her first career start
What Crouch had to say
Opening statement…
“Very proud of the team to go out and get three wins this weekend. This is a long, long week. It’s difficult to stay focused and energized through it all and they did a good job to stay engaged. Once we settled into the match defensively, we started to create some issues for them and were able to take control of the match. I’m looking forward to getting back to Neville, in front of our fans, to open SEC play against a really good opponent in Kentucky.”