AUBURN, Ala. — The 11th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers (9-3, 0-2 SEC) visit Neville Arena for a 2 p.m. matchup on Sunday, Oct. 4. Auburn (11-3, 1-1 SEC) looks to bounce back from its 3-1 loss to #3 Kentucky on Friday.
Auburn, searching for its first SEC home win of the season, looks to fend off Tennessee, looking for its first SEC win overall after falling to the No. 7 team in the country in back-to-back weeks.
ON THE AIR
- Friday's match will be streamed on SEC Network+. Graham Doty (PxP) and Paige Wetzel (analyst) will be on the call; first serve is set for 2 p.m. CT.
LAST TIME OUT
- Auburn volleyball took its first loss in Southeastern Conference play on Friday night, losing 3-1 to No. 3 Kentucky.
- The Wildcats dominated the opening two sets, forcing Auburn errors from everywhere. Auburn rallied to play one of its best sets of the season to win set three. But Kentucky returned to prominence in set four to seal the victory.
- Kentucky's three-headed monster on attack each recorded double-digit kills. Brooklyn DeLeye led the way with 22 kills. Georgia Watson and Asia Thigpen each had 14 kills while hitting above .350. DeLeye and Thigpen each had double-doubles.
- Anastasija Ivkovic had nine kills, hitting .421 on 19 attempts. She added a career-high seven blocks.
- Kate Mansfield led the Tigers with eight blocks, tied for her season-high and the most by a Tiger this season.
SCOUTING THE VOLUNTEERS
- The Volunteers are 9-3 entering the match with all three losses coming against top-10 teams in the country.
- Tennessee's first loss of the season came after back-to-back wins over Illinois and #21 Indiana. The Volunteers fell in three sets to #2 Pittsburgh.
- Two weeks ago, Tennessee picked up its second-ranked win of the season with a 3-1 win over No. 3 Penn State.
- The Volunteers have lost their first two matches of SEC play, each to the No. 7 teams in the country. Tennessee opened conference play by being reverse-swept by Texas, then fell on Friday night in Florida, 3-0.
- Tennessee's Kennedi Rogers ranks 12th in the country with 4.47 kills per set. The Volunteers as a team rank fifth in the country with 14.47 kills per set.
- Caroline Kerr is 13th in DI with 10.75 assists per set. Tennessee has the seventh-most assists per set in the country with 13.33.
- The Volunteers are hitting .298 this season, the 10th-best mark in DI.
SERIES HISTORY
- Tennessee leads the all-time series over Auburn 39-20-1, winning each of the last three matches.
- The Tigers won the last meeting at Neville in 2022 with a 3-1 win over the Volunteers.
- Auburn is significantly more successful at home in the series with a 13-15 record in Auburn.
- Last season, despite the 3-0 score, Auburn only fell at Tennessee by six points, losing each set by the minimum of two points. Evenly matched, the Tigers hit .227 compared to Tennessee's .231.
- Lauren Dreves led the Tigers last season with 10 kills at Tennessee. Grace Havlicek had a standout match with eight kills and four blocks.
A HISTORIC STREAK...NO LONGER
- Auburn's loss to Kentucky snapped the Tigers' winning streak at eight matches, tied for the fifth-longest in program history and the second-longest under Brent Crouch.
SEC CO-OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
- Junior outside hitter Belle Patrick was named SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 28.
- Patrick's 29 kills at Arkansas were a conference-high in the opening week of SEC play, the second-highest mark by an SEC player all season, and the ninth-best by any DI player in 2026.
- Her 29 kills were a career-high and the second most by an Auburn Tiger in the rally scoring era (2001-present); the ninth-most ever.
- Patrick also logged nine digs, two aces, a block, and a perfect 32-for-32 on serve-receive.
UP NEXT
- Auburn hits the road, visiting Vanderbilt on Oct. 9 for a 7 p.m. match in Nashville. The Tigers then head to Columbia, Mo., playing Missouri at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 11.
—War Eagle—