Mississippi State volleyball begins SEC road play this weekend as the Bulldogs (4-9, 0-2 SEC) take on the No. 5 Florida Gators (8-1, 2-0 SEC) in Gainesville today at the O’Connell Center.
MSU will travel to Columbia for Sunday’s match up against South Carolina (9-2, 1-1 SEC) at USC’s Volleyball Competition Center, which will be broadcast regionally on FOX Sports South.
The four-day trip will cover 1,200 miles and five states as MSU embarks on what could prove to be the team’s most challenging test of the season.
Freshman setter Hillary Parker said the team is as ready as they can be and not one aspect of preparation stuck out in her mind that required more attention.
“Knowing that we’re playing the number five team in the country is going to make us want to beat them that much more,” she said.
Since 1984, the Gators hold a 34-0 record (16-0 in Gainesville) against MSU while amassing a 102-3 record in sets played.
The Bulldogs have had a little more success against USC, but the Gamecocks are 21-7 all time against MSU and have won the last four meetings. MSU swept the Gamecocks in 2006, including a 3-2 comeback win in Columbia broadcast on regional television.
The Gators come into today’s match up as 18-time defending SEC champs, the first of those coming in head-coach Mary Wise’s first season in 1991. The Gators have gone to the NCAA tournament each season under Wise, making it to the Final Four seven times, but have yet to gain top honors as NCAA champs, having only made it to the championship game once, finishing second.
The Gamecocks come into Sunday’s match fresh off a straight sets win in Oxford against Ole Miss and play Alabama today in Columbia at 6 p.m.
Coming off a 0-2 start to their SEC schedule against Auburn and Georgia, the Bulldogs look to have junior middle blocker Ashley Newsome and freshman setter Hillary Parker healthy after a collision that sent the duo to the sidelines in last Friday’s game against Auburn.
Offensive struggles remained with the Bulldogs throughout last weekend’s matches as the team hit a .132 clip for the weekend. The shining aspect of the two games was the performance of Newsome, who tied a career-high in kills (19) against Georgia. She pulled off this feat two days after sustaining a hip pointer against
Newsome’s performance was the only double-digit kills tallied for MSU on the weekend.
“Ashley continues to show amazing determination on the court,” Hazelwood said. “We’re looking for that same type of determination from all of our players.”
Despite coming off both SEC matches with two of her three lowest totals in digs this season, junior libero Kayla Woodard still ranks among the SEC’s leaders in digs. The Arley, Ala., product has 203 digs (4.23 set average.) through 48 sets and ranks second in the SEC behind South Carolina’s Sarah Cline (206, 4.9 set average).
Assistant coach Brandon Higa said the Bulldogs are focusing on serving and passing to keep Florida on its heels and keep the Gators from creating quick scoring plays.