Razorbacks volleyball falls to Auburn after winning first two sets

Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.

Arkansas put up more blocks than Auburn on Friday night. It didn’t matter in the end.

The Tigers came back from two sets down to beat the Hogs in the SEC opener by scores of 21-25, 23-25, 28-26, 25-19 and 15-9.

Razorbacks volleyball is now 8-4 on the season and 0-1 against league foes.

The block count favored Arkansas 11-7. Aleki Alexander came up with six of those, one on her own and five as assists.

Romani Thurman added five more blocks to go along with 13 kills.

Still, Auburn found a way when the match got late.

Three sets slip away

The turn started in the third set. Auburn jumped ahead 11-6.

The Hogs kept hanging around. Gaby Cornier served an ace and Lakin Laurendine had two kills during a 4-0 run that knotted it at 14.

Auburn nudged back in front. A few Tigers errors and a Thurman kill got Arkansas within one, and back-to-back points gave the Razorbacks a 24-23 edge.

Neither team could pull away. After three more ties, Auburn took the set 28-26.

The fourth started with four straight Tigers points for a 5-3 lead. Arkansas didn’t get many good looks after that.

A three-point run, finished by a Thurman kill, made it 13-11. Auburn’s attack kept working, though, and the Tigers got to 20 first on the way to a 25-19 win.

The fifth was even for a couple of points. Then Auburn scored four in a row to lead 6-2, and a string of Arkansas errors helped the Tigers finish it 15-9.

The first two sets went Arkansas’ way

It looked much different early.

The opening set was tight until Parker Duncan put down two straight kills for an 8-5 lead.

Auburn led 15-13 at the technical timeout. The Hogs answered with four unanswered points, and the Tigers stopped play down 17-15.

Arkansas won the next two as well. Auburn got within two after another timeout, but the Razorbacks scored three straight, ending with a Duncan ace, to go up 22-17.

A Laurendine kill and an Auburn attack error closed it 25-21.

Thurman had two kills for a 4-1 lead in the second. Auburn then won seven of the next nine points to lead 8-6, and two Arkansas errors plus a Tigers block made it 17-12.

The Hogs called time and came out swinging. Three straight points cut it to 21-19, and an Auburn error and a Duncan kill tied it at 21 before Thurman gave Arkansas the lead.

Numbers that stood out

The Tigers went up 23-22 on an ace. The Razorbacks won the next three, including one more Thurman kill, to take the set 25-23.

Laurendine led the team with 17 kills.

Duncan had 11 kills and 12 digs. That’s her fourth double-double of the season.

Kiki Remensperger dished out 36 assists and dug up 15 balls. The digs were the most by anyone in the match and a season high for her, giving her a fifth double-double this year.

Libero Madi Benne and defensive specialist Gaby Cornier had 13 digs each. That gave Arkansas four players with 10 or more.

Now the Hogs get a week off. They’ll play at Georgia on Friday, Oct. 2, at 6 p.m., then visit South Carolina on Sunday, Oct. 4, at noon.

Both road matches will stream on SEC Network+.