A weekend highlighted with career and season-high performances provided Mississippi State volleyball (8-21, 4-14 SEC) with wins over Arkansas (12-16, 6-11 SEC) and Ole Miss (8-19, 2-15 SEC) for the program’s first back-to-back SEC wins since 2007 and with a season sweep of the Rebels in the process.
The Bulldogs and head coach Jenny Hazelwood repaid the Razorbacks for a 1-3 loss earlier this season thanks to an all-around team effort and a .262 hitting percentage.
“They’re a good team, and they were off,” Hazelwood said. “Did we have something to do with that? Yes. We were serving tough and playing great defense and we got them frustrated, which was our game plan.”
MSU swept the Razorbacks in the first two sets to head into the break. Arkansas made adjustments in the locker room and took the Bulldogs down to the third, but MSU resurfaced to take the fourth along with the match (25-15, 25-14, 21-25, 25-13).
“They really worked hard all week long,” Hazelwood said. “Skill-wise, we’ve been doing a lot of things well. It was just staying intense the whole match.”
The Bulldog roster featured four players in double digit kills as sophomore outside hitter Caitlin Rance paced the Bulldogs with 13 kills and only one error on 30 attacks.
Senior setter Dorey Gray led the match with 42 assists, while Newsome matched her season high in blocks with nine (two solo, seven assisted).
“Just knowing that our team can fight and play like that makes you feel really good about your team,” freshman setter Hillary Parker said. “It makes you feel like you have great team chemistry and you can do anything.”
Arkansas freshman outside hitter Jasmine Norton led the Razorbacks with 15 kills, her twelfth straight double-digit kill performance, but 11 errors in 44 attacks gave the highly-touted hitter a .091 clip.
Razorback hitting errors came back to hurt the team with 39 kills and 38 errors giving Arkansas a .007 hitting percentage due in part to the Bulldogs’ season-high 17 blocks.
With Ole Miss came a tough test, but the Bulldogs turned back the Rebels in four sets (25-21, 19-25, 25-22, 25-21), completing the season sweep after handing the Rebels a five-set loss earlier this season.
“We knew Ole Miss would come out and play hard,” Hazelwood said. “They came out fighting hard and so did we. I was really proud of our girls in that first set to take a commanding lead.”
Statistically, both teams were similar, but the Bulldogs had the edge offensively, leading the match in kills (61-56) while limiting errors (18-22) as MSU hit a .267 clip, the second highest of the season.
Newsome led the Bulldogs with 20 kills and a .455 hitting percentage while Rance paced with 15, as well as a .455 clip.
Gray had a career-high 49 assists with 11 digs, her fifth double-double of the season, while junior libero Kayla Woodard set the defensive tempo with 34 digs.
“I’m so proud of the team,” Gray said. “I can’t take credit for anything. I feel like the team is the MVP. We all shine together, and that’s my favorite part of this team.”
Ole Miss had a trio of players with double-digit kills as senior outside hitter Caitlin Weiss led the team with 15, while sophomore middle blocker Regina Thomas had 13.
Defensively, four Rebels had double-digit digs, led by freshman outside hitter Whitney Craven with 19.
“This just showed that if they work hard and have good practices, it pays off on the weekend,” assistant coach Lindi Bankowski said. “So I think focusing on tough practice this week going into LSU, anything can happen.”