AUBURN, Ala. – The long wait is finally over as head volleyball coach Brent Crouch and the Auburn Tigers kick off the 2025 season at the Cardinal Classic in Louisville, Kentucky Aug. 29-31.
Crouch and the Tigers begin the campaign facing the 2024 National Runner-ups and current No. 4 team in the country in Louisville. First serve is slated for 5 p.m. CT and the match will be streamed live on the ACC Network Plus.
Auburn will round out the weekend with matches against Morehead State on Saturday, Aug. 30 at 11 a.m. CT and St. John’s on Sunday, Aug. 31 at 11 a.m. CT. Both streamed live on the ACC Network Plus.
LAST TIME OUT
Auburn finished the 2024 season with a 14-13 record and a 4-12 mark in SEC play. Crouch and Co. came away with two top 25 wins, including a reverse sweep over then No. 12 Kentucky at home in Neville Arena.
As a team, the Tigers finished with the fourth-highest hitting percentage (.227), seventh-most aces (127), fifth-highest digs per set average (15.62), fourth-most blocks (255) and second-most blocks per set (2.52) in single-season school history.
QUICK HITS
Crouch has brought in nine new players to bolster the 2025 roster. Five transfers (Belle Patrick, Eden Bower, Kate Mansfield, Shanelle Puetz and Liz Markovska) all arrive with valuable experience across Division I volleyball, including multiple trips to the NCAA Tournament.
Patrick arrives from Virginia Tech where the 6-1 outside hitter was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team.
Bower spent three years at BYU where she helped the Cougars to NCAA Tournament berths in all three seasons.
Mansfield posted six double-digit kill performances as a freshman for Cal, including a career-high 16 on .419 hitting against UC Irvine.
Puetz’s setting led Florida Gulf Coast to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances over the past two years before she decided to bring her talents to Auburn.
Markovska has been a staple in the Cal Poly lineup since she stepped foot on the court. In three years in San Louis Obispo, Markovska has stacked up 720 kills, 648 digs and 78 aces.
Four freshmen (Audrey Nuckols, Baileigh Carlsen, Izzy Orton and Greer Chambless) have all decided to make Auburn their home as well.
The month of August has been kind to both Crouch and the Tigers. Crouch is undefeated 12-0) and 25-3 all-time at the beginning of the season.
Non-conference tournaments have been a point of excellence for Crouch and the Tigers. In his career, Crouch is 72-24 in such tournaments, including a 40-3 mark since arriving at Auburn.
In five seasons on the plains, Crouch is 4-1 in season openers with his only loss coming in the Covid-shortened 2020 season. Friday's matchup marks the first season opener on the road since Auburn swept Georgia Tech, 3-0, in 2017.
Rachael Sunder has joined Crouch's staff, arriving from Austin Skyline Junior Volleyball Club. Apart from coaching one of the top clubs in the country, Sunder's resume also includes a national championship in 2011 as well as being awarded the NCAA Tournament MVP. Sunder also spent two seasons as the volunteer assistant coach with Texas, helping the Longhorns to a 54-8 record over her tenure and a National Runner-up finish in 2016.
Volleyball in the SEC is no joke. Coupled with Auburn's non-conference slate, the Tigers will face four of the preseason top 10 and six of the top 20 throughout the season.
Tennessee, Oklahoma, Florida State and Arkansas are all receiving votes as well.
SCOUTING LOUISVILLE
It's a new era in Louisville for the Cardinals. Dan Meske takes the reins after an NCAA runner-up finish a season ago.
Meske returns 11 total players from last year's roster, including three starters. Nayelis Cabello, Chloe Chicoine and Cara Cresse were all named to the All-ACC preseason team and Cresse and Chicoine we awarded preseason AVCA All-American honors.
Chicoine joins Louisville after two seasons at Purdue where the outside hitter piled up a slew of honors, including All-Big Ten Second Team and AVCA All-Region First Team.
Last season as a team, the Cardinals ranked inside the top 10 in three different categories. Louisville led the nation in blocks per set (3.09) and total blocks (393.0), and ranked 10th in opponent hitting percentage (.154).
SCOUTING MOREHEAD STATE
Head coach Kyrsten Becker begins her third season at the helm of the Morehead State program. In her first two years, Becker boasts a 36-28 record and took the Eagles to the NCAA Tournament a season ago.
Senior outside hitter M.E. Hargan picked up her season straight First Team All-OVC selection last season, leading the team in kills (393) and kills per set (3.12).
Junior middle blocker Amelia Nott was also selected as an Ohio Valley Conference player to watch. Last season, Nott picked up 119 total blocks.
Becker's squad was the model of consistency in the OVC, ranking in the top three in 10 different statistical categories. Notably, Morehead State ranked 18th in the country in total digs (2,068).
SCOUTING ST. JOHN'S
Veteran head coach Joanne Persico begins her 32nd season at the helm of the St. John's Volleyball program. The Red Storm are coming 24-13 season, falling to Bowling Green in the NIVC's Fab Four.
Persico returns eight players from last year's roster and will be led by Erin Jones, Lucrezia Lodi and Rashannay Solano Smith. All three have been named to the preseason All-Big East Team, with Jones being a unanimous decision for the second year in a row.
Jones has been one of the best players in the Big East for the past three seasons and is vying to be one of the best hitters in all of Division I volleyball this season. She broke the Big East triple-double record last season with 11, was second in the country with 24 double-doubles and finished inside the top 20 in the nation in points (596.5) and aces (58).
As a team, the Red Storm finished inside the top 10 in the country in three different categories. St. John's ranked third in assists (1,722), fourth in kills (1,824), and ninth in total attacks (4,761).
AUBURN-LOUISVILLE SERIES
Friday will mark just the fifth meeting between Auburn and Louisville in program history. The Cardinals carry a 3-1 record into the matchup. However, the Tigers claim the only contest in the rally-scoring era, defeating then-No. 21 Louisville, 3-2 (15-25, 17-25, 25-14, 25-22, 15-8) in 2016 at the Active Ankle Challenge.
AUBURN-MOREHEAD STATE SERIES
Morehead State and Auburn have only met one time in school history, with the Eagles taking the victory in five dramatic sets in 1994. The Tigers boast an 11-2 record against the Ohio Valley Conference.
AUBURN-ST. JOHN'S SERIES
Five sets were barely enough to separate Auburn and St. John's in 2015 during the first and only meeting between the Tigers and Red Storm. St. John's emerged victorious, 3-2 (25-22, 20-25, 31-29, 22-25, 15-12).