The Mississippi State volleyball team has been born again, and the process will be broadcast on regional television this weekend.The second half of the team’s SEC competition is set to begin tonight, as the Lady Bulldogs duel with Tennessee. On Sunday, MSU will take on Kentucky in a contest that is set to be televised on SEC-RSN TV. The Lady Dawgs are excited about what the second half of the season might bring.
“We’ve gotten back our confidence after it was gone due to us losing so much,” senior setter Eva Kriegel said. “We’re going to prove to everyone that we’re on the same level as other SEC teams. It’ll make it even better that we can prove it on TV. We’re going to show everyone that the matches we lost to these two teams earlier are not the matches we are capable of playing.”
MSU is fresh off taking a two-win weekend against Georgia and Auburn, defeating the opponents 3-1 and 3-2.
“We’ve had some ups and downs,” first-year assistant coach Don Perkins said. “But to finish the first half with two victories catapults us into the second half of the season. We lost to Tennessee and Kentucky both by scores of 3-1 at their places, but there’s not a player on this team that doesn’t think we can beat them at home.”
MSU faces off against the Tennessee Lady Vols (8-10, 3-7) tonight in a 7 p.m. contest. The Bulldogs dropped a 3-1 contest to UT in Knoxville on Sept. 16.
“Tennessee is a very tall team,” Perkins said. “When we played them the first time, they were young and inexperienced. We’re going to see how they’ve changed and we’ll adjust our game plan accordingly.”
Sunday will pit MSU in its fourth-annual SEC-TV televised match, this time against Kentucky (16-5, 7-3).
“Kentucky is a different kind of team,” Perkins said. “They are very offensive-minded. They have some extremely talented athletes who are very good. They do have holes though. When we played them, they had one of the five largest crowds in Kentucky volleyball, and that’s something we hope to use against them this Sunday.”
Another aspect of the team’s rebirth was the resignation of third-year assistant coach Chris Cothran, who left the team last Friday. Associate athletic director Ann Carr said that she and Cothran had been in discussion for several weeks about Cothran possibly pursuing other interests, but his resignation was unexpected.
“We really appreciate all that Chris has done for the program,” fourth-year head coach Tina Seals said. “In the areas he was responsible for, he did a good job. We wish him the best. Right now, he’s looking for other opportunities.”
As a volunteer replacement on the MSU coaching staff, Seals has brought in coaching veteran and former associate athletic director Samye Johnson to help for the rest of the season. Johnson served as head coach for the VolleyDawgs from 1994 to 1996.
“She adds a lot of energy and passion to the sideline, and she is a great fit for us right now,” Seals said. “There is a lot of knowledge in that head of hers. She hired me and recruited me here, and so I have nothing but the utmost respect to be able to be beside her on the bench.