Mental toughness and the ability to put away teams is what many consider to be the traits of winning teams. Mississippi State volleyball has lacked those traits in recent years, but with a young team and first-year head coach Jenny Hazelwood, the Bulldogs can forget the past and focus on the goal at hand.
Despite the unfortunate loss of sophomore middle blocker Mandy Mellencamp to a torn ACL and MCL early in the season, Hazelwood, along with assistant coaches Lindi Bankowski and Brandon Higa, said she believes they have found what it takes to win.
“One of the problems we’ve been struggling with is finding the right lineup,” Hazelwood said. “We’ve found a lineup that fits, and we can build from there.”
Junior libero Kayla Woodard said the team has pulled together and realized what it takes to get a win and have the mindset to never give up.
“They’re learning that nothing is going to be handed to us,” Bankowski said.
Allowing the team to grow in confidence has been the play of junior middle blocker Ashley Newsome, senior outside hitter Ioana Demian, as well as Woodard. Both Newsome and Demian represented the Bulldogs on the All-Tournament team in last weekend’s Bulldog Invitational.
Newsome ranks among SEC leaders in kills and blocks this season. She leads the team and is third in the SEC with 43 total blocks and 135 kills despite seeing time on the back row in a defensive role the last few games.
Freshman setter Hillary Parker said Newsome competes as long as she is on the court – no matter what position.
“If you put someone on the court that wants to win, they are going to do everything they can to help the team be successful, and Ashley is one of the main components to our success,” she said.
Bankowski said Demian’s ability to play the middle or outside the last few games at such a fast pace will require opposing teams to adjust.
Demian hit a .450 clip and a season-high 20 kills in her performance last Saturday against Eastern Michigan.
Down 22-24 in the third set against EMU and coming out of the break 0-2, the match seemed out of reach. However, Newsome provided a match-saving dig capped off with a kill by Demian as the Bulldogs went on to win 3-2.
Bankowski said it was the first match that the team really learned how to push to the finish.
Woodard has anchored the Bulldogs’ defense this season as she leads the SEC in digs with 186. Her career-high 27-dig performance against EMU ranks as the second-highest number of digs in a game by an SEC player this fall.
Overall, the starting lineup has proven to mesh well as the team is coming off a two-game win streak, but mental toughness is not only for starters.
Bankowski said players on the bench are providing a crucial role by pushing those on the court to bring out their full potential and giving feedback from what they see in practice and in matches.
“One of the tricky things in coaching is trying to build that unseen thing of chemistry and everyone pulling along the same line to get better,” Higa said.
The Bulldogs begin their 20-game SEC schedule today at the Newell-Grissom building against SEC West leading Auburn (8-3) at 7 p.m. and close out a season-longest 6-match home slate against Georgia (8-2) Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
Having gone 1-19 in SEC play a year ago, the Bulldogs have forgotten about the past and are focused on this season.
“If we do what we do well, we’ll compete against everyone, not just Auburn and Georgia, but against the top teams in our conference,” Higa said.