Over the weekend the Mississippi State University volleyball team won both of its conference matchups against South Carolina and Tennessee.
Sunday the Bulldogs took the court for their annual “Dig Pink” game. Most of the girls wore pink socks and headbands to help raise awareness for breast cancer in front of a crowd of 358 fans.
MSU (11-9, 2-4) looked to rebound after losing four straight road matches by returning home to Newell-Grissom. The Bulldogs beat South Carolina (10-9, 2-5) Friday night in straight sets.
Sophomore Taylor Scott recorded her eighth double-double of the season with 14 kills and 11 digs against the Gamecocks.
The Bulldogs hit .336 against South Carolina, which is the highest percentage MSU has hit in a conference match since Nov. 3, 2011, and the win was the Bulldogs’ first conference win of the year.
Scott said the Dogs enjoyed the win and gave the team confidence heading into the match against Tennessee.
“It’s a team thing. The setters were great mixing it around. They made it really easy on us hitters to trust us in positions on when to set us,” she said. “We always say that winning is very contagious. We know how it feels and what to do mentally, physically — exactly what we have to do. Our mindset (Friday) was great so as long as we know how it is, our confidence will be a lot better.”
The Bulldogs took care of business as they repeated Friday night’s performance by winning every set against the Volunteers (8-13, 0-7).
MSU and Tennessee traded points with each other in the first set until the Bulldogs ultimately won out 26-24.
Head coach Jenny Hazelwood said she expected the Vols to start the match on a strong note.
“It was close. Tennessee has a lot of really close matches. They took a set off of Arkansas, who is a really good team. They have done a lot of good things, and we knew they would come out strong and they did,” Hazelwood said. “We fought off a lot of set points, and that really shows the maturity this team has grown in to.”
The Bulldogs dominated the rest of the game, winning the next two sets in convincing fashion 25-17 and 25-16.
MSU pulled away early in both sets and never looked back.
Growing in maturity game by game has been the theme of this team all year. This Bulldog team has 13 underclassmen on the team and seven true freshmen.
One of those underclassmen, Scott, has stepped up and become a leader of the team.
With her ninth double-double of the season, second of the weekend, Scott credited the setters for her stellar performance.
“I have great setters. They put me in great positions where I can just swing away,” she said.
Because of the youth on the team, everyone is still finding her role and positions on the team. Scott, who switched positions for this game following a Hazelwood line up change, said she felt comfortable in her new spot on the court.
“I am trying to feel as comfortable as I can,” she said. “It is exciting over there.”
Another leader of this Bulldog team is sophomore Roxanne McVey. After being named to the All-SEC freshmen team last season, McVey is seventh in the country averaging 5.63 digs per game.
The sophomore had a total of 23 digs in the win over the Volunteers.
McVey credited her teammates to being focused and in sync heading into Sunday’s match.
“We had a practice on Saturday and came in today with everyone on the same page and really strong focus, really high energy, and we came out and we did it,” she said.
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Volleyball sweeps pair of weekend conference matches
Blake Morgan
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October 22, 2013
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