The Mississippi State volleyball Bulldogs can smell the SEC lurking just around the corner.MSU (3-3) is only three matches away from beginning conference play as it closes out its pre-conference schedule this weekend in Memphis.
The Bulldogs will compete in the University of Memphis Invitational, playing tonight and tomorrow against three other universities.
Today at 4:30 p.m., the Dawgs will take on Nicholls State (2-5). They will continue tournament play tomorrow with an 11:30 a.m. match against Austin Peay (4-4), and will close the tournament against host Memphis (4-3) at 7 p.m.
“I think this weekend, we will be really disappointed if we don’t win all three of our match-ups,” MSU assistant coach Chris Cothran said. “When we look at the type of competition and the conferences they play in, we have a really good chance to win all three matches. Don’t get me wrong, with injuries and such, there’s always a chance of being upset in Division I, but I think we should win.”
MSU is fresh off a 1-2 weekend in Waco, Texas, at the Baylor Invitational. The Dawgs dropped their first match of the tournament against eventual champion Oregon 3-0, but bounced back the following day to top Baylor 3-2. MSU lost its final match of the tournament to Stephen F. Austin by a score of 3-1.
“It’s a little bit hard to look at how we performed last weekend as a whole body of work,” Cothran said. “All the teams we played were very good, but each match was different. All in all, I thought there were a lot of good signs that Coach Seals and I had been looking for, but fatigue and our injuries just kind of set in. If you just look at the numbers, and base it solely on that, I think we played much better than a 1-2 weekend.”
Senior opposite hitter Jamie Joyner was named to her second all-Tournament team this season.
Mississippi State head coach Tina Seals will be searching for a special milestone this weekend as well.
The fourth-year head coach is looking for her 50th win at MSU, as she has led the VolleyDawgs to a 49-44 record so far.
Seals has a 493-181 career record.