Coming off a disappointing weekend, the Mississippi State volleyball team will be looking to turn their season around against their instate rival from Oxford.
Tomorrow will be the first rivalry game of the season for the Lady Bulldogs, 2-4 in the SEC, as they play host to the Rebels of Mississippi.
The Rebels, 8-9 on the year and 1-5 in the SEC, will be led into Starkville by Elena Garcia.
Over the weekend Garcia became the sixth Lady Rebel to notch 1,000 digs and kills in her career. The Rebels lead the series 52-9, with the Bulldogs last notching a win in 2001
Despite the short turn-around, the team took Monday off, and thus will only have today to prepare for the Rebels.
MSU head coach Tina Seals, who was 1-7 against the Rebels in her playing career at State, says the coaching staff is trying not to treat this match any different from a normal one.
“It’s just another match to us,” Seals said. “Monday (was) their day off; (today) we’ll start preparing for Ole Miss.”
With both teams hovering below .500 in the conference standings, the prospect of dropping another SEC game does not bode well for either team.
While the coaching staff might downplay the rivalry, junior setter Andrea Mead says the rivalry is definitely alive and well.
“It will be emotional for both teams,” Mead said. “It will probably be the best game either team will play all year. Not to say that the other games don’t matter, but it’s just a whole different atmosphere when we play Ole Miss.”
The Lady Dawgs will need to play better than they did over the weekend to improve on their record against the Rebels. Mead specifically cited setter-hitter communication and overall team focus as keys to correcting the results of last weekend.
“(Today) when we start practice it’s a whole new day,” Mead said. “We need to put last weekend out of our heads, but still learn from it. We know what it feels like to lose, and we don’t want to feel that way again.”