Texas A&M knocks off No. 24 Auburn to begin three-match road swing
A statement was made by the Maroon & White.
On Sunday afternoon, Texas A&M was in Auburn to take on the 24th-ranked 24 Tigers, and the Aggies came away with an impressive 3-1 victory (25-20, 18-25, 25-21, 25-19).
The win represents A&M’s first over a top-25 opponent this season.
In the first set, it began with both teams exchanging blows that led to a 13-13 deadlock. The Aggies then pulled away by ripping off four straight points, with kills coming from junior outside hitter Emily Hellmuth and junior middle blocker Morgan Perkins.
With A&M taking a 17-13 lead, the Ags kept their momentum upwards and never let Auburn get back in the set. More kills from junior opposite Logan Lednicky and junior middle blocker Ifenna Cos-Okpalla, along with some errors from the Tigers, propelled the Aggies to a 25-20 win.
Lednicky also finished the game with three block assists, as she was getting it done for A&M on both sides.
"She's been working on being an all-around volleyball player, and you saw that on defense today,” head coach Jamie Morrison said of Lednicky. “She's one of the best players in the country and continues to prove it night in, night out."
The second set was not as good for A&M.
After beginning in a similar fashion, Auburn found momentum and put down points to build a firm lead. Even at 7-7, the Tigers scored six unanswered to take a 13-7 advantage, with freshman outside hitter Lauren Dreves tallying a pair of service aces.
However, A&M didn’t quit, and some more attacking errors from Auburn made it 17-17.
As the Aggies did in the first, Auburn again built a lead and never looked back. The Tigers closed out the second set on a dominant 8-1 run to win it 25-18.
Auburn scored their final three points on A&M attack errors.
In the third, the Aggies soundly responded.
More back-and-forth action continued, with kills and errors aplenty on both sides of the net. This led to the score being tied multiple times late, but an important Lednicky kill made it 13-12 and seemingly helped A&M turn the tide in both the set and the match as a whole.
A&M never gave up the lead again in the set, and when the Tigers made it a 20-18 game late, A&M got a pair of Perkins kills to take the third 25-21.
The final stanza was one the Aggies had a lead in for the majority of the period and never let go of.
After it was a 4-4 set, A&M took off on a 10-6 run that they were able to gain with kills from Lednicky and Hellmuth. With a 14-10 lead, A&M kept the advantage despite Auburn making it close with a couple of one-point deficits.
With the A&M leading 20-17, the Aggies closed out the Tigers by scoring five of the game’s last seven points and won 25-19. Kills from Perkins and junior outside hitter Taylor Humphrey, as well as some more errors from Auburn’s side, helped push the Maroon & White across the finish line.
This win was a big milestone for Morrison and A&M this year as the Aggies improved to 11-2 overall with a 2-1 mark in SEC play.
"I thought it was a great all-around win,” Morrison said. “We put pressure on them from beginning to end. We let off a little bit in pieces of the second, but it wasn't just one swing, one block. It was just consistently good volleyball that won the match."
A&M’s next stop on this road swing will be against Ole Miss in Oxford on Oct. 9. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m. CT.