The Mississippi State volleyball team started off the season the best in the program’s history with four straight wins in last weekend’s Maroon Classic. The team dropped only one set all weekend en route to wins over the Arkansas-Little Rock, Austin Peay, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Montana.
The team was led by tournament MVP Ashley Newsome, who finished with 47 kills on the weekend. Junior Caitlin Rance added 57 kills and was placed on the All-Tourament team.
Head coach Jenny Hazelwood took notice of the two standouts this weekend.
“Ashley and Caitlin were so strong for us,” she said. “In clutch moments, we could go to them. I think the emotion they play with also gives us that much of a lift. If they can get a big kill or a block, we get so excited, and that can be intimidating to other teams. I think they really played that role well. They did a great job of really carrying our team this weekend.”
In the first match of the season, the Bulldogs defeated UALR in straight sets 25-14, 25-20, 25-21. Freshman setter Paris Perret finished with 31 assists in her collegiate debut. The Bulldogs dominated the defensive part of the game, out-digging the Trojans 45-37. Junior captain Faith Steinwedell posted a team high 12 digs in addition to her 7 kills.
Hazelwood’s former team, Austin Peay, took the court against the Bulldogs Friday night. After winning the first set 25-19, the Bulldogs had to bear down and focus before winning the next two sets 25-22 and 25-23. After trailing 22-23 in the last set, the Bulldogs rallied and won three straight points, two on kills by sophomore Chanelle Baker. Newsome, Rance and Baker all finished with double-digit kills to lead the team offensively while senior Kayla Woodard, Steinwedell, and Rance covered the court defensively, all posting double digit digs.
The Bulldogs dropped their only set of the weekend Saturday afternoon against TAMU-CC. After losing the first set 19-25, the team rallied together to win the next three 25-18, 25-10, 25-19.
The win marked Hazelwood’s 100th career win as a volleyball coach.
Hazelwood said she was excited to reach this milestone at her alma mater.
“It was special to get that 100th win here at home where I played volleyball,” she said. “To come back and do it as a coach was just really neat. I hope it’s one of many more we have this season.”
Rance said she and the girls were also glad to be a part of such a special occasion.
“It was awesome to be a part of something that was so special and important to her,” Rance said. “We presented her with the game ball at the end of the night game so that she could have something to remember it by.”
The last opponent for the Bulldogs was the Montana Grizzlies. The two teams battled back and forth in the first set until a kill by Rance and a hitting error by the Grizzlies gave State the set 30-28. Rance continued to dominate in the second set posting eight kills as the Bulldogs won 25-18. In the third set, the teams were knotted up at 22 before two errors by the Grizzlies and an emphatic kill by Newsome sealed the match and the tournament for the Bulldogs.
But this win did not come without a price, as Steinwedell went down in the first set with an injury to her knee. Steinwedell will be re-evaluated this week, but the team is hoping she will only be out for a few weeks.
Guest coach Dan Mullen aided the team in its efforts Saturday night. Mullen admitted it was very different sitting on the sideline than cheering in the stands.
“I was intense, I like to win,” Mullen said. “It was hard, but I tried to keep my mouth closed as much as possible and tried to stay somewhat calm. But the girls did a great job; we’re very proud. Jenny’s doing a great job of building up the program.”
Hazelwood said she was impressed by her team’s ability to stay strong throughout the whole weekend.
“I’m really proud of the fact that we only lost one set all weekend,” Hazelwood said. “All four teams were tough opponents; we had no easy match, so that’s a long weekend. When you’re battling four times in two days that can wear on you, but we stayed tough down to the end, so I’m pretty impressed with that.”
The team will be back in action this weekend against Louisiana Tech, UT-Pan American and tournament host UT-Arlington in the Maverick Invitational in Arlington, Texas.