COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Auburn volleyball battled hard with No. 19 Texas A&M, falling to the Aggies 3-1 on Sunday afternoon. Auburn (11-8, 1-6 SEC) led in each of the first two sets before Texas A&M (11-8, 4-3 SEC) rallied back to win both sets. Auburn won a long third set, benefiting from Aggie errors. Auburn’s best attacking set was the fourth, but Texas A&M hit just a bit better, winning the set and match.
Belle Patrick logged her third double-double of the season, her first since the start of SEC play. Patrick led Auburn with 16 kills and a career-high 17 digs. Anastasija Ivkovic hit .529 with nine kills and no errors, along with three blocks. Emma Moore led Auburn with seven blocks, her season-high.
Auburn used a four-point run early in the opening set to take a 10-7 lead, expanding the lead to four before the Aggies used a 7-2 run to take the lead at 16-15. Texas A&M marginally held onto its lead for the remainder of the set. The Tigers tied the set at 17-17 but never led for the rest of the frame. A 5-1 run closed the 25-20 set victory for the Aggies.
Like the opening set, Auburn took an early lead in the second set, leading 10-5 after an 8-2 run. Texas A&M chipped away at the Tiger lead, thanks to unforced Auburn errors in the net and on the centerline. Auburn took a 15-14 lead into the media timeout, but Texas A&M carried a 4-1 run out of the timeout to take an 18-16 lead and for Brent Crouch to call his first timeout of the set. The Aggies won the first two points out of the timeout, but Auburn responded with two of its own, cutting the lead back down to two. Texas A&M won four of five points to reach set point, then clinched the second set on a Kyndal Stowers kill, 25-20.
Texas A&M led early in the set, up 9-5 to force the Tigers’ first timeout of the frame. Auburn responded out of the timeout with a four-point run to tie the set at 9-9. After back-and-forth scores, Texas A&M pulled away narrowly with a three-point run for a 16-13 lead, but Auburn responded again with a 4-1 run off multiple Aggie errors. Each team went on a short run, eventually tying at 23-23. Both teams sided out for nine straight points until Moore and Grace Havlicek combined for a block to win the third set, 29-27. The Tigers overcame a setpoint for Texas A&M at 24-23, but Ivkovic and Patrick put Auburn ahead to lead the set victory.
The Aggies jumped ahead 10-6 in the final set. The Aggies lead ebbed and flowed, shrinking to one, but growing to five at the media timeout. Auburn fought through the set, using a three-point run to force a Texas A&M timeout at 17-16 for the Aggies. Texas A&M regained a multi-point lead out of the timeout and never dropped it. Auburn pulled within a pair of points, but could not overcome the Aggie lead, dropping the set, 25-22.
TIGER STANDOUTS
- Ivkovic hit .529 with nine errorless kills on 17 attempts. The mark is the second best of her career. Ivkovic also tallied three blocks.
- Patrick logged her third double-double of the season, leading the team in both kills (16) and digs (17). Patrick’s 17 digs were a career high.
- Moore had her best performance of the season with a team-best seven blocks and five kills on just nine attempts. Both her block and kill totals were season-highs.
- Shanelle Puetz led Auburn with 22 assists, just ahead of Carson Eickenloff’s 20.
- Lauren Dreves totaled 11 kills and eight digs. Dreves was perfect with 37 clean receptions.
HEAD COACH CROUCH
- “We turned it on in the third and fourth sets. We were doing everything well; unfortunately, A&M did it a little better in the fourth set to win it. We’re putting a lot of things together that we weren’t before, but we’re just playing great teams right now. I’m excited to get back to Neville on Friday and do it in front of the fans for the first time in a while.”
UP NEXT
- Auburn returns home to Neville Arena next weekend, hosting Ole Miss at 8 p.m. CT on Friday, Oct. 23. The Tigers and Rebels will be televised live on SEC Network. Auburn will then welcome LSU to the Plains at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25.
—War Eagle—