The Mississippi State volleyball team is falling into quite a routine.
The Bulldogs (6-20, 1-14 SEC) were shut out against two more SEC schools last weekend, falling on two road trips to Georgia on Friday and LSU on Sunday. The losses extend MSU’s losing streak to 12 matches, dating the Bulldogs’ last victory to Sept. 28.
Friday night saw MSU fall to Georgia 3-0, in scores of 25-19, 25-16, and 25-15.
SEC kills leader Senior Miria Taylor led Georgia (15-11, 8-7 SEC) offensively, tallying 13 kills in the contest on a stellar .667 clip. Ioana Demian led MSU, finishing with eight kills.
Fifth-year MSU head coach Tina Seals said she was pleased with Demian’s performance all weekend.
“We played well in spots in both of our weekend matches,” Seals said. “Ioana Demian has been our most consistent player on offense all season, and she led us in both matches.”
MSU, whose 6-20 record will not carry them into the postseason, is simply playing for pride at this point in the season. Georgia head coach Joel McCartney realized that the team could provide a challenge because of that fact.
“When you face teams like the team we faced tonight in Mississippi State, who know their records are not going to carry them into the NCAA postseason, those matches become really dangerous because the pressure is off of their back,” McCartney said. “So the mentality that we tried to establish going into this match was that it could be a really fun and important opportunity for us to remember why we play the game.”
MSU continued the theme it has had essentially all season long, being out-hit by Georgia .367 to .119. Though State only committed two more hitting errors than UGA, it committed 12 service errors to Georgia’s two.
Demian bounced back Sunday to pace the Bulldogs in the contest against LSU (13-9, 8-7 SEC), tallying 13 kills on a .286 hitting percentage. Despite her valiant effort, the Bulldogs dropped the match to the Tigers by scores of 25-18, 25-23 and 25-4.
Perhaps a big reason for the increase in Demian’s stats was the fact that freshman outside hitter Kellye Jordan, who finished the Georgia match with four kills, missed Sunday’s game with an illness.
Seals said Jordan’s absence hindered the team greatly Sunday.
“We saw a lot of improvement from Kellye in the outside position at Georgia, but she missed Sunday’s LSU match with an illness. So a thin position got a little thinner for us against LSU in Baton Rouge.”
The Bulldogs put up a fight throughout the first two sets, but LSU roared back and reeled off 17 consecutive points en route to the blowout third-set win.
“We challenged the team between the second and third sets to raise our level of play,” LSU head coach Fran Flory said. “We really wanted to control outcome, control touches, play fast and enjoy the moment. It looked like we enjoyed playing rather than looking like it was a job like we did in the first two sets.”
Though Demian shined in the contest, she received little backup from her teammates. Freshman Grace Hoyt finished second on the team with only three kills in the match.
LSU out-hit MSU .396 to .100 and totaled a 44-24 advantage in kills.
On the other side of the net, LSU’s freshman Michele Williams and senior Kyna Washington finished with 12 kills and 11 kills, respectively.
The Bulldogs will close out their 16-match 2008 home slate of contests with matches against SEC West opponents Arkansas and Ole Miss. MSU will take on the Lady Razorbacks of Arkansas Friday at 7 p.m. before hosting Ole Miss Sunday at 1:30 p.m., in a match that will recognize MSU’s lone senior, Cristina Jucan, who has been injured for most of the season.