Mississippi State volleyball hopes to put last week’s Halloween loss to the Florida Gators out of their minds as they look to exorcise some demons from earlier this season. The team will travel to Alabama and Auburn this weekend-two teams they lost 0-3 to at home in October.
The losses culminated a weekend of lows for the Bulldogs. The team was outscored 180-135 in the six games it played that weekend, only coming within five points of victory twice.
This weekend, however, could turn out much differently for the Lady Dawgs. Head coach Tina Seals expressed optimism about the team’s chances.
“The advantage we have right now is that we’ve had a chance to see them play,” Seals said. “Now we can learn from our mistakes and try to fix some of the problems.”
The team has notched seven of its 13 wins on the road this year, including victories at South Carolina and LSU.
Now the team is locked in a tight race for the final few SEC tournament slots and each match is growing increasingly important. The Bulldogs, 4-8 in SEC play, are currently tied with South Carolina for the seventh tournament slot with Auburn and Kentucky only one game back, making it a 10-team race for an eight-team tournament.
Seals said the team has surpassed her expectations, and must now learn how to play under the pressure of being in a race for the postseason.
“Our goal this season was to build the basics,” Seals said. “We wanted to get the team playing together and competing in some SEC games. Now we’ve had a few surprise victories, and we’re stepping closer and closer to the door of a tournament berth. I just hope we can keep everyone stepping toward that door.”
Game time for Friday night’s match with Auburn is set for 7 p.m. Sunday’s match will start at 1:30 p.m. in Tuscaloosa.