AUBURN, Ala.— The Auburn volleyball team will unofficially get the 2026 season underway Thursday as they host Georgia Tech for an exhibition match at Neville Arena.
First serve is set for 4 p.m. CT with arena doors opening at 3 p.m. Admission is free.
After a successful Orange & Blue scrimmage Sunday, this will be the final tune-up for the Tigers as they prepare for their season opener in just over a week.
The Tigers return three starters and six letter-winners from the 2025 squad that finished 17-11 overall, 7-8 in SEC play. Auburn was picked to finish seventh in the 16-team SEC.
Leading the way is junior outside hitter Lauren Dreves, a preseason All-SEC selection after earning first-team All-SEC and All-South Region honors a year ago. Dreves set career highs in kills (376), kills per set (3.80), hitting percentage (.268), blocks per set (0.65) and points per set (4.25), hitting the double-digit mark in kills 24 times last season.
Also returning for the Tigers is junior middle blocker Kate Mansfield. She started all 28 matches last season, averaging 1.24 kills per set while hitting a team-best .354. Junior middle Grace Havlicek rounds out the returning Auburn starters; she also started all 28 matches last season and put her name in the Auburn record books with 110 blocks on the year, the seventh-most in program history.
The regular season begins for Auburn next Friday, Aug. 28, in Johnson City, Tennessee, at the ETSU Invitational.