The Mississippi State volleyball team continues to face a mountain that has blocked its path to success for the majority of the season. Last weekend, the Bulldogs fell to a disappointing 6-9 on the season with a 1-5 SEC record.
“We competed well with Florida [on Friday, with] them being ranked No. 6 in the nation until injury forced Cristina Jucan out,” MSU head coach Tina Seals said. “With our lack of depth at that position due to other injuries, we really found ourselves in a hole.”
MSU lost the third game of the match by a 30-14 score after pushing the Gators to scores of 30-26 and 30-23 in each of the first two sets.
Prior to the third game in MSU’s match against the Gators, Jucan, a starting outside hitter for the Lady Bulldogs, went down with a back injury that she thought would put her out of commission for at least a week.
Seals said Jucan decided she felt strong enough to play in Sunday’s contest against South Carolina, which MSU lost 3-1.
“Right before the match, she said she felt like she could go,” Seals said. “We put her in, though she wasn’t on all cylinders. Erin Seago was the same way. Jamie Joyner’s foot also began hurting her.”
Senior middle blocker Erin Seago has been nursing a foot injury all season and has been limited in both her game and practice time.
The injury to Joyner’s foot makes for a complete senior class on the MSU volleyball squad that has been nagged by injury at some point this season.
Coach Seals currently stands undefeated against all in-state rivals in her stay as MSU head coach, but keeping that record intact will not come easy during the weekend.
MSU will travel to face Ole Miss in a 7 p.m. contest Friday.
Ole Miss has chalked up an impressive 13-4 record on the season, as well as a 3-3 SEC record.
The Lady Rebels’ SEC schedule thus far has been filled with 1-1 weekends. The good news for the Lady Bulldogs is that in each of Ole Miss’s three SEC weekends, they lost the first match of its outings.
On Sunday, the Lady Bulldogs will take on the 13-2 LSU Tigers, who have posted up a 5-1 SEC record.
The Tigers’ only loss came at the hands of Florida.
“We’re just trying to get everyone healthy,” Seals said. “They’ve had a few days off to try and get rested. What we do this weekend depends on how each of them feels.