A dismal October for the Mississippi State volleyball Bulldogs is in the books, and the team is now trying to put it completely behind them. In fact, most of the team, while looking to this weekend, has one eye on the future further down the road.
Fifth-year MSU head coach Tina Seals believes that though the Bulldogs (6-18, 1-12 SEC) are currently on a 10-match losing streak stretching through the month of October, she believes there are things to look forward to.
“Yes, you look at the scoreboard, but you also have to look at the future,” Seals said. “Everyone who is active on this team this year will be together next year. We have our freshmen on the court now, and in the years to come, they will be a force to be reckoned with.”
Eight of the nine freshmen on the MSU roster have seen playing time on the court this season.
Middle hitter Mandy Mellencamp has seen the most action, having started in all 24 matches. She has tallied 123 kills on the season on a team-leading .205 hitting percentage.
Mellencamp said she believes the team’s future is very important.
“I think we are just trying to improve with each match, even thinking about next season,” Mellencamp said. “We know we have more fun when we play better, so we’re trying to get better so it can be fun again while we’re playing.”
When the Bulldogs squared off against Tennessee on Oct. 26, freshman outside hitter Kellye Jordan became MSU’s sixth freshman to hit the court as a starter.
Since her first start, Jordan has tallied 16 kills in three matches.
Freshmen Caitlin Rance, Grace Hoyt and Leanna King have seen decent amounts of playing time, while Aynne Swindell and Kelsey Nichols have also gotten into the rotation recently.
Despite all of the impact the team’s freshmen have made, junior outside hitter Ioana Demian remains the team’s leader. Demian leads the team with 245 kills, and she is generally targeted by opposing defenses on the court.
A more experienced Demian sees the team struggling, and found it hard to point out positives at this point.
“We’re just trying to show each team we play that we can compete,” Demian said. “Even if we lose, we don’t want other teams to think we’re a bad team. We just want to finish strong.”
The Bulldogs will hit the road this weekend, and are set to take on Georgia (14-11, 7-7 SEC) tonight in a 7 p.m. ET contest. Sunday will feature another road trip, as MSU will take on defending SEC West champion LSU (12-9, 7-7 SEC) in a 1:30 p.m. match.
The two opponents MSU will face this weekend are the only two teams MSU won sets against last month. Both matches featured the Bulldogs losing the third set by a 26-24 margin, which led to a momentum-filled fourth-set loss in each contest.
Seals said though the freshmen-to-upperclassmen ratio on the MSU roster is different this time around, she expects two solid matches this weekend.
“We know we can compete [with these two teams],” Seals said. “This week’s given us an opportunity to iron out some things like getting used to a new lineup without Faith [Steinwedell].”
Steinwedell, also a freshman, went down with a torn ACL on Oct. 24 against Kentucky. She has been ruled out for the rest of the season. Steinwedell joins lone senior Cristina Jucan, who has been out for all of the SEC season with a back injury.
MSU has also missed its assistant coach, Don Perkins, over the past few weeks due to several illnesses. According to Seals, Perkins first had a serious stomach illness, then another undisclosed illness that has him at home recuperating. She expects Perkins to be able to return to the team next week.
In his absence, student coach Stefanie Joyner has taken on more responsibility with the team. Joyner, who signed with MSU to play in 2006, has not been able to set foot on the court as a player since she has been with the team due to a shoulder injury.
Seals said Joyner has showed immense maturity in her role as a coach on the team, especially since Perkins has been absent.
“Every player has to be coached differently, even from me,” Seals said. “Stefanie has done a great job and knows how to coach certain players differently than others. She has shown great maturity over the past few years.”