Auburn University’s women’s volleyball team faced LSU in a closely contested five-set match at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge on Friday. Despite a standout performance from sophomore Lauren Dreves, who achieved a career-high 24 kills and 15 digs for her eighth double-double of the season, Auburn fell to LSU with a final score of 3-2 (25-21, 14-25, 22-25, 25-20, 15-12).
The match marked Auburn’s second five-set contest in three days. In the opening set, Auburn’s offense was effective with contributions from Bel Zimmerman—who continued her strong play after a previous match against Texas—alongside Dreves and Liz Markovska. However, LSU responded with their own momentum shift and took the first set.
Auburn’s defense improved significantly in the second set, led by strong serving from Markovska and others. The team held LSU to just .025 hitting efficiency during this frame and built a commanding lead with a notable 10-0 run from Markovska at the service line. Five Auburn players finished with double-digit digs; Baileigh Carlsen and Sydney Handel both set new personal bests.
The third set saw continued steady offensive play from Dreves and Markovska as setters Kalei Edson and Shanelle Puetz guided the team to a .289 hitting percentage. Puetz also recorded her seventh double-double of the year with 21 assists and 11 digs.
LSU increased their offensive pressure in the fourth set, hitting .382 to force a decisive fifth frame despite Auburn’s defensive efforts. In the final set, Auburn rallied from behind to tie at 12 following a block by Markovska and Eden Bower but could not close out the match as LSU secured three consecutive points for victory.
Reflecting on the outcome, Head Coach Brent Crouch said: “For a lot of reasons, this one hurts. An incredible effort from this group to rise to the challenge both physically and emotionally. Every team in this league is good. I’ve been saying that all season. And I’m including us in there too. We’re all capable of beating each other on any given night. I thought for large portions of the match, we were in control. Certainly, in that second set and most of the third, we were serving well and the setters were doing a great job managing our offense. We just weren’t able to get them off the net enough in the fourth and fifth. With the outsides they have, we needed to get them out of system more often. It was a great fight. I’m proud of this team and how much they left on the floor.”
Additional highlights included Auburn tying its season high for digs (71), matching its performance against Vanderbilt earlier in October; career-best performances by Carlsen (12 digs) and Handel (11 digs); Mansfield reaching five blocks for two straight matches; Zimmerman achieving double-digit kills for back-to-back games; Markovska posting her fifth double-double of the year; and Dreves recording her highest kill total yet.
