The Mississippi State volleyball team opened SEC home play with a thrilling five set win over the University of Arkansas on Friday night. The Bulldogs outlasted the Razorbacks winning 23-25, 25-13, 26-24, 17-25, 18-16.
The 2-hour, 20-minute match was only State’s second five set match as opposed to Arkansas’ seventh this season. Junior Caitlin Rance led the Bulldogs with 14 kills while senior Ashley Newsome, who is battling a stressed achilles tendon, added 12. Freshman Dani McCree had another solid performance with eight kills. The stats show the team effort this win required, which head coach Jenny Hazelwood has been instilling in the girls’ minds this season.
“I felt like we really fought, and that was a true team effort,” Hazelwood said. “That’s what we’ve been about all season long, just everybody being ready and doing their part to help us win, and I think that played a huge factor.”
Senior Kalya Woodard finished with a team high 27 digs on the night. The determination of the lone seniors, Newsome and Woodard, played a key factor in the win.
“I kept telling everyone that we are not losing this game. We were pushing points one at a time, and that’s something we’ve really been about at practice,” Woodard said. “We all have to work together for it to work, but [Newsome and I] have been in those situations, so that’s a time where we can take the team on our back and make sure we don’t leave there without a win.”
After a tough first set loss, the Bulldogs came out on fire for the second set which included a seven point run in the middle of the set. The team made a statement in the set ending with a powerful kill by junior Kellye Jordan. In the third game, the teams traded three and four point runs for a while before Rance’s ace sealed the game for State.
After a fourth set comeback fell short, the team was determined to win the final set. The Bulldogs took a quick lead and finally took the match after an ace by sophomore Hillary Parker and an emphatic block by freshman Paris Perret and sophomore Mandy Mellencamp.
Woodard said this was a good way to get started in the SEC.
“It was huge; we had been working hard all week,” Woodard said. “I’ve been telling everybody that I felt like this weekend we were going to turn things around, so this is huge for us in our conference.”
The Bulldogs did not have much time to celebrate this win as it hosted the defending SEC champions and currently No. 17 LSU Tigers on Sunday.
The Tigers snapped State’s five match home win streak winning 25-19, 25-23, 25-14. LSU finished with four players in double figure kills and an attack percentage of .358. The Bulldogs were again led by Rance with 9 kills and Newsome with 7. Although the team did not pull the upset, Hazelwood said she was pleased with the effort given by her players.
“There’s a reason they are undefeated,” Hazelwood said. “At spurts we did great things to keep up with one of the best teams in the country. We talked afterwards about playing at that level and executing, and from a training standpoint, we have to do it everyday in practice.”
After three SEC games, Rance understands that practice is the key for the team.
“We know we need to work hard in practice everyday because each game is only going to be harder,” Rance said. “Every SEC team is a pretty good team, so we need to focus on practice and getting better there.”
As the team prepares to go back on the road to Auburn and Georgia, Hazelwood is pleased with her team’s perseverance through the weekend but ready to get better everyday in practice.
“In the Arkansas match on Friday, I saw a lot of fight in these girls and a lot of determination to win, which was great. Then they came out Sunday and weren’t intimidated.” Hazelwood said. “These girls are growing and making progress to be at the level that we want to be at to compete with the teams at the top.”