On Sunday, Auburn volleyball lost their sixth straight game as Arkansas completed the reverse sweep comeback, winning 15-11 in the final set.
Coming into Fayetteville on a five-game losing streak, Auburn needed a win badly. With a 14-7 record overall and a 4-6 in conference, Auburn looked to win against another struggling team in Arkansas. Arkansas came in with a five-game losing streak of their own, looking to start hot against a bigger Auburn team.
Early in the first set, it looked like Arkansas would extend that losing streak. Auburn came out slow for the first couple of points, but then Bella Bell started getting hot. With a 6-0 Auburn run and four straight kills for Bella Bell, Auburn had all the momentum heading into the first set media timeout up 15-12. Arkansas got it back to a one-point game, 24-23, due to multiple offensive mistakes by Auburn, and it looked like Arkansas might win the first set. However, Arkansas ruined that chance with their own offensive mistake after a service error by Olivia Ruy.
The second set started sloppily as there were three net violations in the first nine points combined. That doesn’t even include the serve errors by both teams to start the set. Even with these mistakes by both teams early on, these teams were going back and forth, with neither team getting more than a point or two lead. The front line of Chelsey McCurdy and Bella Bell got active early, combining for six blocks and 11 kills through a set and a half. After going into the media timeout leading by one, Auburn looked to extend their lead behind the strong swing of Bella Bell. Bell got two kills and a block quickly after the media timeout that forced Jason Watson to call a timeout down 19-16. Not looking back, Auburn quickly got up two sets after winning the second set 25-19.
Looking for a clean sweep, Madison Scheer started the scoring early with a perfect hit to the back of the box. After going up 7-1 fast, Auburn put Arkansas into a point of desperation, forcing the Razorbacks to regroup to stop the bleeding. It did not get any better after the break, as Zimmerman got two good kills extending the lead to 12-3 and putting the Razorbacks on their heels. Arkansas, looking for something to start a streak, got two straight points behind a strong kill and another offensive error by Auburn, which has been a major problem for Auburn this year. Arkansas' 4-0 scoring run cut the deficit to five, and Auburn coach Brent Crouch called a timeout to reorganize his team. Even with a couple Auburn points, Arkansas kept inching their way back into the game in the third set, going on another 3-0 run to make it 18-14. Crouch, trying to motivate his team to finish the third set and the game, called another timeout looking to close out the sweep. Later in that set, Arkansas made it a one-point game off an ace by Ava Roth after being down by 10 earlier. Auburn immediately gets two points back off a kill and block by Bel Zimmerman making it 23-20 Auburn. In a set where they were down by 10 early, the Razorbacks climbed back and used a late 5-0 run to propel them to a 25-23 third set win.
Playing more emphatically in the fourth set, Arkansas went up 5-3 early. This pressure forced an Auburn team, that has fallen victim to starting slow in games, to wake up. A couple points later, Arkansas found their largest lead of the day 9-4, flipping the momentum to the Arkansas side. Zoi Evans forced an Auburn timeout a couple minutes later with a block putting the Razorbacks up 13-7 and a great chance to win the fourth set. Zoe Slaughter left the game a couple minutes later with a potential head injury after she was hit with an accidental knee to the back of the head. Bella Bell continued her great game, getting her 18th kill in the middle of the fourth set, but even she could not stop the bleeding. The Razorbacks automatically respond with a strong kill to the left side. That kill made it 21-15 and forced another Auburn timeout. After the timeout, Auburn’s comeback dreams were crushed, as Aniya Madkin forced a fifth set as she drove the ball across the box, ending the fourth set.
In only the second five-set game this year for the Tigers, Auburn came out slow, a problem that continued to haunt this team in this game. Arkansas came out to a strong 5-1 lead, using strong serves by Hannah Hogue to put pressure on the Auburn defense from the start. Auburn started a small comeback, responding with three straight points, but service errors continue to hurt this team and their momentum. After a couple points by Auburn that made it a one point game, kills by Thurman and Dudley extended the Arkansas lead to three. A kill by Lakin Laurendine and another offensive error by Auburn put Arkansas at set point in the fifth inning, leading to another lost challenge by Brent Crouch. The Arkansas Razorbacks completed the reverse sweep and won the final set 15-11.
Auburn’s losing streak extends to six, and the Tigers will travel to play #24 Florida next Friday with hopes of finally getting back into the win column. That game is at 6:00 PM on ESPN+.
