The last hit of the match fell to the ground with Southeastern Louisiana University players hustling to try and keep it up like they had done all night to no avail.
The point Mississippi State University (9-6) ended a sweep of SLU in the final game of the Maroon Classic Tournament.
The team played Jackson State University on Friday, winning three to zero in game one of the tournament. However In game two, MSU was swept by the University of North Texas.
The first set was close as SLU led the set early with a 16-18 point lead when a timeout was taken. This timeout would have a profound affect on the outcome of the set and the match.
“Well I said what I’ve been saying a lot this year, that most of this stuff is on us,” head coach David McFatrich said. “They are things we can control, and with a young team you have to control what you can control, and not worry about what you can’t control. We did a better job of it the rest of that game and the rest of the match.”
The team is young with only two returning seniors and three returning juniors, making it important for freshmen to contribute, something they did. McFatrich had praise for freshmen Kanani Price and Laura Rose Gray, as well as praise for junior Khristian Carr.
“I was proud of our freshman Kanani Price I thought she did a good job of ball control today,” McFatrich said. “I thought Laura Rose Gray had a good tournament in the middle for a freshman she just keeps getting better each day. Khristian Carr had a really good match today eleven kills with three errors on only 26 swings.”
Price had eight digs as a defensive specialist, and senior Payton Harris had eleven digs as a libero in the match. They played an important role in the match, helping the team defensively, keeping them in the game and creating chances.
“It’s just the first contact so it really is like a focus on it being as perfect as it can be, if we can’t get the first ball up we can’t run the offense we want to run,” Harris said. “So it adds a little bit of a presure to us in the back row but I think we do really well under it.”
Harris finished the game 63 digs away from a career record for digs, but she is not letting the record distract her as MSU heads into conference play.
“It’s not really something I’m focused on right now, it’s more just if it happens it happens. It would be pretty nice to get it, and I would be pretty excited, but I think I do whatever I can to help my team succeed,” Harris said. “If getting that amount of digs helps them then that’s what I’ll do.”
MSU will open up SEC play this Friday against the University of South Carolina in Starkville. The match will start at 7 p.m. and be broadcast on the SECNetwork+.
