STARKVILLE, MS. – All-around performances on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball propelled Auburn (14-2, 4-1) to its first SEC road win of the season over Mississippi State (7-7, 1-4) in four sets, 3-1 (20-25, 25-13, 25-15, 25-19).
Auburn dug themselves in a hole early and it was difficult for the Tigers to climb out of. Unforced errors gave Mississippi State as much as a seven-point lead midway through the frame.
Returning from injury, Emma Moore stepped in and gave the Orange and Blue life. The improvement on defense was almost immediate. Auburn rattled off three blocks in 10 points including two for Bella Bell. Red-shirt freshman Jasmine Okeoma also jumped in to make her collegiate debut and picked up her first-career kill.
Bell finished the afternoon with five rejections, eclipsing 300 for her storied career.
In the end, the Tigers couldn’t run down the Bulldogs but the momentum shift was palpable heading into the second set.
Both Bell and Bel Zimmerman continued to find success on the right side. Between the right-side duo, the two had combined for 15 kills with just one error on 26 swings. Zimmerman tied her season-high with 16 kills on .556 hitting.
Coupled with better serving, including two aces from Bella Humphrey, the Tigers hit a monstrous .593 in set No. 2 to even the match at one set apiece.
Junior outside hitter Madison Scheer simply started to take over the match in the third set. The Eureka, Missouri product put down four kills in the third frame alone. She would finish the day with 18 kills, tying her season high, on an incredible .485 hitting percentage.
Both Fallan Lanham and Peyton Dunn jumped in on the ace party as well to power Auburn to a two sets to one lead.
Speaking of tough serving, no one was tougher than Kalei Edson. The freshman from Centralia, Illinois dialed up three aces all part of a 9-0 run from the Tigers in set four.
Distribution from both Edson and Peyton Dunn was high-level as the match wore on. When all of the dust settled, Scheer (18), Zimmerman (16) and Bell (13) all reached double-figure kill totals on Sunday afternoon. Dreves finished one kill away from a double-double (9 kills, 11 digs).
In the back row, Alexis Dacosta was as sturdy as ever, claiming a team-high 13 digs to keep the Mississippi State offense at bay. The Orange and Blue defense finished the day holding MSU to just .183 hitting, with nine blocks and 55 digs.
It all added up to Auburn’s first road victory of the season.
MATCH NOTES
- Auburn’s eight aces tied for the most in a four-set match this season
- Head coach Brent Crouch improves to 43-0 when his teams hit over .300
- The Tigers improve to 26-2 over the last two seasons when holding opponents below a .200 hitting percentage
- Bella Bell reached 300 career blocks
- Madison Scheer (18 kills) tied her season high and has reached double digits in nine straight matches
- Bel Zimmerman (16 kills) tied her season high and reached double digits for the fourth straight match
- Alexis Dacosta (13 digs) has reached double digits in six straight matches
- Jasmine Okeoma made her collegiate debut and recorded her first kill
- Bella Humphrey’s two aces were a career-best for the freshman
WHAT CROUCH HAD TO SAY
Opening Statement…
“We had a gameplan today that we wanted to distribute the ball quite a bit. We were distributing a bunch of the middles early and we were just making some errors. Emma Moore came in for the first time in a month and brought a different level of energy. We played much better in the second half of the first set, we just dug ourselves too big of a hole.
“I really liked the way we played the rest of the way. We weren’t great at the beginning of set three, down 7-3, but then came back to win 25-15. We hit .593, .500, .361, that’s really good. And I loved what we did serving. We had eight aces and only 12 errors. That’s a great ratio. Bella Humphrey did great coming off the bench. We started her in a serving role. We’re just trying to get more production out of that particular rotation. She had two aces but she also produced a number of overpasses. All-around good effort. It’s always hard to get a win on the road.”