AUBURN, Ala. – Timely aces and clutch performances led No. 24 Auburn (13-1, 3-0) over rival Georgia (6-6, 0-2) for the fifth straight time, 3-1 (25-19, 19-25, 26-24, 25-23).
Head coach Brent Crouch needed something from everyone on Friday night and his team responded to keep its perfect run through SEC play intact.
Set No. 1 featured a handful of Lauren Dreves, and for good reason. The true freshman found success early and often from the outside. Six kills paced Auburn while right side Bella Bell was as efficient as ever with three kills of her own on her six swings.
When the dust settled, Bell finished her evening with a season-high .444 hitting percentage to go along with a team-high 13 kills.
Twenty-one digs from the back row, including nine from libero Alexis Dacosta helped the Tigers hold the Bulldogs to just .075 hitting. In total, the Orange and Blue had enough firepower to take the opening set and the lead, 25-19.
Like Sunday’s match against Alabama, rivalry bouts are never without their ebbs and flows. Georgia, and Sophie Fischer, fought back in the second set to try and even the score.
Despite another four kills from Bell, the Tigers weren’t able to slow down the visitors enough as the match drifted into set No. 3 tied at one set apiece.
Setters Peyton Dunn and Kalei Edson directed a bit more balanced attack in the third frame. Madison Scheer led the way with five kills on her 15 swings. However, Bell, Bel Zimmerman and Lakin Laurendine each tallied three.
Defensively, Dunn scooped up eight digs in the third set alone. The Decatur, Texas native would finish her evening with 23 assists and 12 digs for her fifth double-double of the season.
Auburn’s block started to pick up steam as well. Scheer and Grace Havlicek both collected three and Bella Bell wasn’t far behind with two.
Late in the set when Georgia pushed it into extra points, it was Laurendine who connected with the final blow to give the Tigers the lead back.
Seven ties and two lead changes highlight the fourth frame. The Tigers trailed by as many as five in the set as Crouch needed his crew to dig deep one last time.
Once more, his team answered.
Led by Dreves, four of Auburn’s six aces came in the fourth set. Both Paige Thibault and Chelsey McCurdy each added one to the cause as well. All of a sudden, the match was tied at 17.
Georgia wasn’t quite ready to go home just yet, though. One last push from the Bulldogs gave the visitors a 23-21 lead.
Leaning on its patented defense, Auburn forced a block and two attack errors as part of a scintillating 4-0 run to steal the final set and the match.
The win gave the fans inside Neville Arena one last thing to cheer about, moving Auburn to 3-0 in SEC play and 13-1 overall.
Match Notes
- Auburn’s win over Georgia was its fifth straight victory against the Bulldogs
- Head coach Brent Crouch is now 6-1 versus Georgia
- Madison Scheer (12 kills) reached double digits for the 11th time this season
- Lauren Dreves’ three aces were a career-high
- Bella Bell (13 kills) reached double digits for the seventh time this season and her .444 hitting percentage was a season-high
- Peyton Dunn notched her fifth double-double of the season with 23 assists and 12 digs
- Bel Zimmerman (12 kills) reached double digits for the eighth time this season
- Alexis Dacosta (20 digs) reached double digits for the 10th time this season and eclipsed the 20-dig mark for the second time in 2024
- Paige Thibault reached 500 career digs
What Crouch had to say
Opening statement…
“It wasn’t super pretty. We always know they are a tough serving team. We were off the net a little bit and setting balls to the left a lot. They were playing really, really good defense. I’m looking at the distribution here, 35 to Madison (Scheer), 49 to Lauren (Dreves), 27 to Bella Bell and 29 to Bel Zimmerman. We want those to be a little bit closer than that. We don’t need 49 balls to Lauren. We need to get the middle involved a little bit more. Chelsey (McCurdy) only got six attempts and Grace (Havlicek) only three. They just did a nice job on us, defensively, from serving to digging to blocking. They held us to .179, that’s probably the lowest against anyone this year.
“We held them to .190, our defense is still doing what it’s supposed to be doing. We just did not get kills in transition or first ball at the level that we need to. That was the story of it. I’m glad we got out with the win. They have some injuries and when they get their kids back, they are going to be even better.”