Mississippi State volleyball head coach Tina Seals remained undefeated against Mississippi teams Wednesday night as her Bulldogs shut out the Ole Miss Rebels.
The Bulldogs (10-1, 1-0 SEC) defeated the Rebels in fine fashion, knocking out UM (8-3, 0-1 SEC) in three games, by scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 30-23.
The victory marked the first time since 2004 that the Bulldogs have won their Southeastern Conference opener.
“We were looking forward to SEC play,” said coach Tina Seals, “and there’s nothing better than to start with a win. It was especially good because we beat our archrival, Ole Miss.”
A crowd of 426 at Newell-Grissom beheld the victory.
The crowd marks the fourth largest in Newell-Grissom building history.
“Our fans share in this win tonight,” Seals said. “It was without a doubt the best atmosphere in Newell-Grissom in my three seasons at State. It means so much to have the crowd behind us, and hopefully they liked what they saw tonight and will be back for our other nine SEC matches.”
The first two games of the match featured MSU and UM battling back and forth, with 15 total tie scores and six lead changes in the opening pair of periods.
After MSU pulled ahead of Ole Miss 12-11 in game one, senior outside hitter Orshi Kriegel delivered 7 of her 8 game kills to lead the Dawgs to a 30-27 victory.
MSU duplicated that margin of victory in game two, led by freshman outside hitter Martina Gregusova, who tallied 4 kills in the game coming in off the bench.
“We just had to keep focused,” Seals said. “Ole Miss is a very good team. They’ve been playing a lot of five-game matches, and we’ve had a lot of three-and four-game matches.They were going to fight, so we just had to be determined and push to win the match.”
Junior opposite hitter Jamie Joyner stepped up defensively for the Bulldogs in the match, matching a career best 4 blocks, one of which ended the game at 30-23, and the match at 3-0.
Joyner also chalked up 7 kills, 5 digs, and 3 assists in the match.
Orshi Kriegel registered her seventh double-double of the season and the 25th of her career Wednesday.
She earned 14 kills and 11 digs in the contest.
Seals has not lost to a Mississippi team since her arrival in Starkville.
Since 2004, the Bulldogs remain undefeated against Ole Miss, Southern Miss and Jackson State, chalking up an impressive 9-0 cumulative record against rivals within the State of Mississippi.
“We set a goal for ourselves to be the best team in Mississippi,” Seals said.
MSU will continue on their quest toward the SEC West title tonight, as they travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to knock heads with the Crimson Tide (5-4).
The match is set for 7 p.m. Alabama has not played an SEC match yet but will to knock off MSU in their debut.
State has never gone 2-0 to start SEC play since 1983, when conference play came into existence.
“Alabama will be well-rested for us on Friday,” Seals said. “We played a mid-week match, so we need to be sure to get rested.
“Alabama finished second in the SEC last year, so they’ll be a very good team. We’re working our scouting report for them.”