Missouri defeats Auburn in comeback fashion

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Auburn volleyball fell in five sets at Missouri, dropping sets four and five after leading 2-1.  Auburn narrowly won the first set, pulling away late before Missouri won a tight second set. Both schools had a strong set, with Auburn handily winning the third set, while Missouri had a strong fourth set. Missouri edged Auburn in the fifth set, pulling away for the 21-25, 26-24, 17-25, 25-19, 15-11 match victory.

Both programs were evenly contested throughout the match, with little separating them statistically. Missouri registered seven more kills to hit .195 compared to Auburn's .153. Missouri also led in blocks, with 13 to Auburn's 10. The visiting Tigers had a significant advantage at the service line with seven aces to Missouri's one.

Neither team managed to pull away in the opening set as Auburn’s 12-10 lead was the largest advantage through the first 40 points of the set. After trailing 20-19, Auburn won four of five points to take a 23-21 lead on a block by Lauren Dreves and Kate Mansfield to force a Missouri timeout. The Tigers kept the momentum out of the timeout, winning the final two of the set to a 25-21 victory.

Missouri went on a three-point run early in the second set to take a 5-2 lead, but Auburn responded with a 5-0 run of its own, highlighted by kills and blocks from Belle Patrick and Mansfield. The Auburn run forced Missouri to call a timeout at 7-5, which Missouri used to flip momentum for another 3-0 run. Both teams went on runs to eventually tie at 13-13 and stuck together until Missouri led 23-21. Auburn won three consecutive points on a Carson Eickenloff ace and Greer Chambless kill, serving for set point. Missouri rallied back with three straight points to come back and win the set 26-24.

After Missouri won the first point of the third set, Auburn went on a 9-1 run, cementing an early lead for Auburn that it would not lose. Missouri put together runs to threaten the Auburn lead, most notably with a four-point run to cut the lead to 21-15 and force an Auburn timeout. However, Auburn finished the set on a 4-2 run out of the timeout, clinching the set on a Mansfield solo block.

Missouri opened the fourth set on a 4-0 run, forcing Brent Crouch to use his first timeout of the set early. The home team carried its momentum out of the timeout with a 7-4 run to make Auburn use its second timeout of the set at 11-4. Auburn responded with a long, seven-point run to cut the lead to two points at 15-13. Missouri pulled away again with a three-point streak, but Auburn won four of five points to trail by two at 19-17. Auburn cut the lead to one before Missouri went on a five-point run to clinch the set 25-19.

Auburn went 3-1 early in the decisive set, but Missouri quickly turned it around to tie at 4-4. A Shanelle Puetz ace put Auburn up 7-5, forcing a Missouri timeout. Missouri went on a 4-1 run out of the timeout to take its first lead of the set at 9-8, then continued to build on its lead to 14-10 and the eventual set win at 15-11.