“I can’t express how proud I am of this team. We’ve talked a lot about taking steps towards improving our program, and tonight we made a big step.”
Those were the words of Mississippi State volleyball coach Tina Seals after her young squad began Southeastern Conference play with a 3-0 road victory over SEC foe South Carolina. The Lady Dawgs (8-6, 1-1) also dropped a 3-0 decision to Tennessee (12-1, 2-0) Sunday.
Friday, Sept. 24
The win over the Gamecocks was the first for MSU since 1994. The win was also the first home loss for South Carolina. USC ranks just behind Florida in SEC attendance, making them one of the toughest road trips in the league.
All three games were closely contested, but the Lady Dawgs came out on the high end in each contest. The first game of the night required extra points for MSU to claim a 33-31 win on two USC errors.
The loss crushed the Lady Gamecocks, who were never able to attain a lead in Game 2, losing 30-28.
After 17 ties in the third game, the Lady Dawgs finally pulled ahead and clinched the win on a block by Christa Fulenwider.
“It was important for us to find a way to finish the match, which we did,” Seals said. “I have to give a lot of credit for this win to our assistant coaches Jozsef Forman and Jason Skoch. They did a great job of putting together a game plan, and our kids believed in it and executed it very well.”
Junior outside hitter Rachel Cooper led the Bulldogs with 13 kills, while freshman Megan Lukasek paced the Bulldog defense with 10 digs off the bench.
Sunday, Sept. 26
The team was unable to duplicate the success of Friday night on Sunday afternoon. MSU lost to Tennessee in straight games. The Lady Dawgs faced a tall order, literally, when they faced 6-foot-3 Michelle Piantadosi, 6-foot-1 Kristen Andre and the rest of the No. 24 Lady Vols.
The Lady Bulldogs played themselves into early deficits in all three contests, but each time showed tenacity in mounting a comeback. MSU pulled to within four late in two of the three games before eventually losing 23-30, 23-30 and 24-30.
“MSU played differently than we’ve seen in the past,” said Tennessee head coach Rob Patrick. “They beat South Carolina in three, so we knew they were a strong team and if we didn’t come to play, we’d be in trouble. They’re bigger at the net with the addition of some talented freshmen, are very organized and played hard.”
Junior Orsolya Kriegel had a match- and season-high 18 kills for the Lady Dawgs, while Fulenwider paced both teams in blocks with eight.
Seals feels good about where her team is this early in the campaign. But with another tough road weekend approaching, she is far from ready to rest on her laurels.
“This was a good learning experience for us this weekend,” said Seals. “We took some steps ahead with Friday’s win at South Carolina and we held our own pretty well against a very fine Tennessee team. The key now is to build on these matches and then move forward next weekend against LSU and Arkansas.”