Mississippi State’s volleyball Bulldogs added both a win and a loss to their Southeastern Conference record this weekend.
The Bulldogs (11-7, 2-6) finally ended their losing streak Sunday against Auburn but not until they dropped their sixth straight loss against Florida Friday night.
Friday night pitted MSU against its highest ranked opponent of the season, Florida.
The Gators, annual favorites in the SEC, have never lost to the Lady Dawgs in volleyball in schools history.
The 8th-ranked Gators kept that streak going, beating the Bulldogs 3-0 in games of 30-28, 30-26 and 30-23.
Senior outside hitter Orshi Kriegel led the Bulldogs in the upset bid, tallying 14 kills in the matchup, hitting at a solid .300 clip.
Freshman outside hitter Martina Gregusova, who sat out in the early part of the season with a knee injury, started all three games against UF and contributed with 11 kills on a .212 hitting performance. Gregusova also added 10 digs.
“Martina has had a lot of stress on her mentally and physically in her transition into America,” head coach Tina Seals said. “But it’s now time for her to emerge, and she’s doing a good job. She is another dominant player we can sub in. She’s used to the fast-paced offense.”
Junior transfer middle blocker Lauren Kowal left the match in game 2 after falling with a knee injury and didn’t play for the rest of the weekend.
She chalked up three kills before her departure.
MSU was able to tally 12 lead changes and 22 tie scores throughout the three games played.
However, a total of 28 hitting and service errors proved to be the Achilles heel for the Dawgs, tripping them up short of victory.
“I was proud of the way we competed tonight,” Seals said. “Florida has an extremely talented team, is well-coached and deserving of the high national ranking. But we seemed to play more aggressively tonight and with more confidence than we’ve seen in quite a while.
“It seemed like we got our tempo back and were able to get more people involved with our offense. We took a step forward.”
Mississippi State experienced afternoon delight when they tangoed with the Auburn Tigers Sunday.
The Bulldogs tamed the Tigers 3-0, by scores of 30-28, 30-25 and 30-22.
Mississippi State led for most of the match, allowing Auburn to gain the lead only three times and tie the score seven times.
The entire match was a dominant performance by the Bulldogs.
Martina Gregusova made her second start of the weekend against AU and pitched in with five kills and four digs.
Coming off the bench, Cristina Jucan dominated the Tigers, tallying 11 kills on a .409 percentage, as well as digging the ball five times.
Junior setter Eva Kriegel continues to be the Bulldogs’ lead assistant of the court, tallying 38 assists against Florida and 32 against Auburn.
She also added 12 total kills and 18 total digs on the weekend.
“This win against Auburn is very good for our team,” Eva Kriegel said. “We have been losing, so this win makes us believe that we can win again.
“Even though we may be playing better teams than Auburn, we will feel better on the court against them, knowing we can win.”