Eight out of the 11 SEC volleyball teams make the cut every year to play in the post-season SEC Tournament. Clawing and scratching all year to stay eligible for the tournament, the Mississippi State volleyball Bulldogs went into Friday night’s match against the Kentucky Wildcats in eighth place. Kentucky stood a little more comfortably in sixth.
After the showing UK (14-7, 7-4) had against the Bulldogs (11-9, 2-8) Friday night, they proved that the only reason they stand in sixth is the tough competition the Cats face in the SEC East.
The Wildcats absolutely controlled the Bulldogs from the opening whistle, winning 3-0, in games of 30-24, 30-27 and 30-18. The loss handed the Bulldogs their fifth loss in six matches.
“Kentucky is very tough on defense,” Bulldog head coach Tina Seals said. “They’re one of the best defensive teams I’ve seen so far. They have some very athletic players, and they played really well together tonight.”
UK amassed a team total of 10 blocks in the match, compared to MSU’s three. UK also out-killed the Bulldogs 49 to 39.
In game one, MSU was able to play even with Kentucky for much of the game, and even took an 18-17 lead on a kill by sophomore middle blocker Erin Seago.
MSU then committed a service error, which have plagued the Dawgs all year, and UK was able to come up with a service ace. UK never lost the lead and took game one 30-24. Orshi Kriegel paced the Bulldogs in game one with six kills.
UK seemed to pull away from the Bulldogs in strong fashion in game two, leading by as much as eight at two different points in the game. The energetic Cristina Jucan gave the Dawgs a spark as she came off the bench. State trimmed the Kentucky lead to two. Megan Lukasek delivered two service aces in the 7-0 MSU run, and Erin Seago notched four kills.
The Bulldogs mounted as much of a rally as they could, but UK was simply too much for them, winning the second game 30-27.
After the intermission, Kentucky raced out to an early 9-3 lead over the Bulldogs, not wasting any time in pounding out the victory. Kentucky earned 11 straight points in game three, stretching the lead to 23-10. Eva Kriegel was able to earn three straight service aces over the Wildcats to somewhat put a stop to the Bulldog bleeding, but after a timeout, the Wildcats went on to cruise in the third game 30-18, and the match 3-0.
Orshi Kriegel led MSU in offense with nine kills, while Rachel Cooper added eight and Jamie Joyner seven. Lukasek registered a match-high 20 digs, while Andrea Mead and Cooper chipped in 11 each.
If the Bulldogs could point out anything positive in the loss, it would be the return of senior opposite hitter Kelly Willinger, who had not played all season due to a knee injury. Willinger, a Kentucky native, was able to notch one kill and an assisted block in her limited playing time.
“I feel really good,” Willinger said. “I’ve been doing a lot of rehab every day, so it’s really feeling pretty good. I was really anxious to get back on the court, and I really wanted to be playing. It’s my senior year, and I’ve been out for more than half the season, so it felt really good to be out there.”
With the loss, MSU will need to have a strong remainder of the season to slide into the SEC Tournament.
“Our defense broke down [against Kentucky], and that’s something we’re going to have to work a lot on next week,” Seals said. “We need to have a good week this week. We’ve got four matches, and we need to start off strong Wednesday against Ole Miss.”