Halfway through the SEC season, MSU (5-16, 1-9 SEC) volleyball travels this weekend to face two SEC foes for the second time in 2009. State plays Georgia (11-9, 2-7 SEC) today at the Ramsey Student Center and Auburn (12-8, 4-5 SEC) Sunday at the Student Activities Center.
In the first battle of the Bulldogs earlier this season in Starkville, UGA won by a score of 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-15). The Athens Bulldogs have a four match winning streak in the series.
The Tigers are off to its best start since 2006 when the team finished the year with 13 total victories. State lost its SEC opener at home against the Tigers (25-21, 25-19, 25-15).
The Maroon and White have had mentally challenging practices this week. The team is starting to understand what the coaches expect of the players, head coach Jenny Hazelwood said.
State is aiming to come into Athens and get its second SEC victory against the SEC East last place Bulldogs.
“With Georgia, we’ve got to go into the match knowing that we have got to serve tough,” she said. “We have got to have a balanced offense against them.”
Playing with speed and precision to catch Georgia off guard on defense and having ball control will be huge keys for MSU, Hazelwood said.
The coaching staff is confident in its chances to win.
“Georgia has been up and down a little bit, and we have improved a lot since we played them last,” assistant coach Lindi Bandkowski said. “I think we are going to take them by surprise, and we’re going to pull out a win.”
The Auburn match will prove a little more difficult due in large part to Auburn’s outside hitters, Hazelwood said.
“Auburn is a solid, well-rounded team,” she said. “They run a 6-2, so they will always have three hitters on the front row, and they have a lot of offensive weapons that can come at you.”
To pull out a win, the team needs to have confidence in the progress it has made, she said.
Against Auburn earlier in the season, State led each set early on, but eventually lost all three late. The trend lately has been tougher play after having leads early in sets, which Hazelwood said she credited to composed and aggressive play.
The tough losses are hard for the team, but the Bulldogs continue to see results in practice, Bandkowski said.
“Even though they are not winning the games, obviously, the SEC is a tough conference, and we are staying focused playing these teams,” she said. “That excites them because of the improvements they are making, so they are hungry to win some and push forward.”
Senior setter Dorey Gray said knowing the tendencies of Georgia and Auburn will help the team be stronger for round two.
“We’ve learned that we can play with them,” she said. “Before, we were looking at the jersey, but we have learned to believe in ourselves more.”