AUBURN, Ala.— The Auburn volleyball team continues its season-opening road swing this week with the inaugural Allstate Big Ten/SEC Volleyball Challenge Week.
Auburn (3-0) travels to Madison, Wisconsin, for two matches against top-15 Big Ten foes. The Tigers will take on No. 11 Minnesota Tuesday before facing No. 5 Wisconsin Wednesday.
ON THE AIR
›› Both matches will air nationally on FS1 with Sloane Martin, Chris Vosters and Anna Connelly calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
›› Auburn went 3-0 last weekend at the Buccaneer Classic, hosted by ETSU. The Tigers picked up wins over Liberty (3-0), ETSU (3-1) and Akron (3-0) in the two-day event in Johnson City, Tennessee.
›› Lauren Dreves led the charge for Auburn over the weekend with 48 kills and a .238 hitting percentage. Belle Patrick, in her first action for the Tigers, had 42 kills on the weekend and hit .284. Patrick led Auburn with 20 kills in the ETSU win and 14 in the victory over Akron.
SCOUTING THE GOPHERS
›› Minnesota enters the week 1-1 on the year with a win over No. 13 Creighton and a loss to No. 12 Arizona State last week in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Gophers will play No. 17 Florida Tuesday night before taking on the Tigers Wednesday.
›› Fifth-year outside McKenna Wucherer leads the Gopher attack with 4.67 kills/set and a .338 hitting percentage. Stella Swenson is Minnesota's primary setter, averaging 9.83 assists/set through two matches, and Zeynep Palabiyik anchors the back row with 4.5 digs/set.
›› Last season, Minnesota finished 24-10 overall and 12-8 in Big Ten play. The Gophers advanced to the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
AUBURN-MINNESOTA SERIES
›› This will be the fifth all-time meeting between Auburn and Minnesota. The series is tied 2-2 with the Tigers winning matches in 1990 and 1998 and the Gophers taking victories in 2009 and 2024.
LAST TIME VS. MINNESOTA
Minnesota 3, Auburn 0 (Sept. 13, 2024, at Minneapolis)
›› Junior libero Alexis Dacosta surpassed 500 career digs and Auburn got nine kills apiece from Lauren Dreves and Madison Scheer but it wasn’t enough to get past No. 19 Minnesota as the Tigers fell for the first time in 2024, 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-16).
SCOUTING THE BADGERS
›› Wisconsin enters the week at 1-3 overall after a brutal start to the schedule. Starting a week early, the Badgers fell to No. 3 Kentucky while defeating No. 7 Louisville at the AVCA First Serve in Milwaukee. Last week, the Badgers dropped matches to No. 5 Stanford and No. 4 Pitt at the Opening Spike Classic in Pittsburgh.
›› Freshman outside Audrey Flanagan leads the Badger attack through four matches with 3.38 kills per set, along with senior outside Eva Travis, a transfer from UCSB, with 3.45 kills/set.
›› Last season, Wisconsin finished 28-5 overall, 17-3 in Big Ten play. The Badgers advanced to the national semifinals, falling in five sets to Kentucky.
AUBURN-WISCONSIN SERIES
›› This will be the first meeting between Auburn and Wisconsin in volleyball.
AGAINST THE BIG TEN
›› Auburn is 6-19 all-time against current members of the Big Ten Conference. The Tigers have faced 10 Big Ten opponents all-time - Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, and Purdue.
›› The Tigers' last win over a Big Ten opponent came on Aug. 31, 2013, when Auburn earned the first top-10 victory in program history with a 3-1 win over No. 10 Nebraska in St. Louis, Mo.
WELCOME TO THE PLAINS
›› Six players made their Auburn debuts last weekend in Johnson City with four transfers and two true freshmen playing for the first time in orange and blue.
›› Transfers Belle Patrick (Virginia Tech), Carson Eickenloff (Ole Miss), Anastasija Ivkovic (UCLA) and Symone Sims (Kansas State) played as Tigers for the first time.
›› True freshmen Emily Keiran and Macy McAmis also saw their first action in collegiate volleyball.
RIGHT WHERE SHE LEFT OFF
›› Junior outside Lauren Dreves hasn't missed a beat in the offseason. The preseason All-SEC selection averaged 4.8 kills/set in the Tigers' three wins opening weekend in Johnson City.
›› Dreves picked up her first double-double of the season and 15th of her career with 19 kills and 14 digs in the win over ETSU on Aug. 28.
›› Dreves also hit a milestone with her 500th career dig in the season-opener vs. Liberty Aug. 28.
UP NEXT
›› The Tigers will head to another conference challenge next week when they take on Florida State in Tallahassee in the ACC/SEC Showdown at the Net. The match is set for next Tuesday, Sept. 8, at Tully Gym on the FSU campus.