What took last season’s volleyball team three months took this year’s edition two days.
In their first weekend of competition, the Mississippi State volleyball squad has already matched last season’s win total. The Lady Dawgs went 3-1 and took second place in the Hibernia Bank Classic in Lafayette, La.
The team went 2-0 on the opening day of the tournament. MSU dominated Northwestern State and dropped just one game to host team UL-Lafayette, eventually winning 3-1.
Saturday had mixed results for the Bulldogs. After getting swept in the morning round by eventual champion Tulsa, the Lady Dawgs rallied and won a 3-1 decision over the Air Force Falcons.
“I thought it was a good start for us,” said head coach Tina Seals. “We got good leadership from our returning players and the freshmen also stepped in and did their job well.”
Seals also said she took pride in the way the young team handled adversity.
“There were several times where it would have been easy for them to lay down and drop a set, but they dug in and showed that they were hungry,” Seals said.
Besides the wins, Seals saw other things in the team’s performance.
“Success is not just measured on the scoreboard. It is all the little things that a team does that manifest themselves into success on the scoreboard. I saw that in this team last weekend,” Seals said.
Two Bulldogs were slated for All-Tournament designation. Rachel Cooper and Jami Hester, both outside hitters, played key roles in the Bulldogs’ success. The two juniors combined for 96 kills and 66 digs in the tournament. Cooper, a two-year letterman, says that the intensity this team has is much greater than in years past, which is translating into success on the court.
“We’re learning how to finish games,” Cooper said, “That is something we didn’t do very well last year. We’re much deeper this season, and the extra energy is helping us late.”
Now that there are confident winds in the team’s maroon-colored sails, the Lady Dawgs have a new challenge at the Quality Inn/Tiger Invitational in Columbia, Mo. The Lady Dawgs will face Arkansas State and Idaho today, while finishing out the tournament tomorrow with match-ups against Creighton and host-team Missouri.
While Seals feels that the team needs to be more solid in the middle and work on their setter/hitter chemistry, Hester feels that the key to sustaining last weekend’s success lies more in the mental aspects of the game.
“We’ve proved we can win,” Hester said. “Now if we can just work hard together, keep the intensity up, and stay focused, we will be successful.”