JOHNSON CITY, Tenn.— Auburn volleyball opened the 2026 season in dominating fashion with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-17) sweep of Liberty Friday morning in the Buccaneer Classic.
Junior Lauren Dreves led all hitters with 16 kills to go along with six digs, three blocks and a pair of aces. Belle Patrick complemented Dreves’ attack with eight kills of her own.
Kate Mansfield led the Auburn blocking effort with four blocks to go along with five kills.
Freshman libero Emily Keiran had 17 digs in her collegiate debut, and junior setter Carson Eickenloff recorded 30 assists in her first Auburn appearance.
As a team, Auburn hit .232 for the match and held Liberty to a .109 mark.
Auburn took control early in Set 1, surging ahead 8-3 after a 4-0 run that included a kill and an ace by Dreves and another kill from Mansfield. Liberty, however, would chip away and pull ahead for the first time at 15-14.
From there, though, Auburn scored five of the next six points to move ahead 19-16. Down the stretch, Ivkovic took over with a block and two kills, including the final point to give the Tigers the first-set win, 25-20.
A back-and-forth second set saw 14 ties and eight lead changes. The Tigers fell behind 10-7 early but went on a 4-0 run that included kills from Patrick and Havlicek to move back in front. From there, the margin would never be more than two points in either direction.
A Dreves kill put Auburn ahead 22-20, but Liberty pulled even at 22-all and again at 23-all. But in the clutch, Dreves got it to match point, and then she assisted Mansfield on a block to secure set two and a 2-0 lead.
Set three, however, was all Auburn. The Tigers hit .281 in the set with 14 kills and held Liberty to an .088 percentage. Auburn used a 4-0 run that included a Dreves kill, a Dreves/Mansfield block and a Macy McAmis ace – the first of her collegiate career – to push the Auburn advantage to 15-9 at the technical timeout.
The lead would swell to as many as eight after back-to-back kills from Patrick and Dreves made it 20-12. Liberty would get no closer than six points the rest of the way, and Dreves put away the final point of the match to give Auburn the 25-17 third-set win and secure the season-opening victory.
The Tigers are back in action later today when they take on host ETSU at 5 p.m. CT. The match will be streamed on ESPN+ with links to live stats available at AuburnTigers.com.
HEAD COACH BRENT CROUCH
“I thought we played better at the end than the beginning, and that is reflected in our hitting efficiency and our opponents. That’s a good thing. Lots of room to improve through this weekend, especially around blocking. We had opportunities for more blocks, but we did not have our hands in good places.”
MATCH NOTES
- Lauren Dreves recorded her 500th career dig.
- Kate Mansfield notched her 200th career block.
- This was the fifth season-opening win in the last six seasons for Auburn volleyball.
- Belle Patrick, Anastasija Ivkovic, Symone Sims, Carson Eickenloff, Emily Keiran and Macy McAmis played in their first Auburn matches.