The Mississippi State volleyball team had a five-star performance from its five seniors this weekend, as the Maroon and White trumped Tennessee Friday, then dropped a match to Kentucky in four games Sunday.”Overall, in this weekend and even last weekend, we’ve played some of the toughest matches all season,” MSU senior middle blocker Erin Seago said. “We’re getting over all the injuries and quirks we had at the beginning of the season, and the second half of this SEC schedule should go a lot smoother for us.”
MSU (9-12, 4-8) defeated the Tennessee Lady Volunteers (8-12, 3-9) Friday night by a score of 3-2, in games of 28-30, 30-26, 30-17, 30-32 and 15-12. It was the Dawgs’ first victory against the Lady Vols since 1996 and only the seventh all-time in the 39-match series.
“Our middles had an outstanding match for us tonight, easily their best of the year,” said MSU head coach Tina Seals, who notched her 499th career-coaching win. “They did a terrific job tonight against a talented young Tennessee team. The 15 team blocks is a season-high, and that was a major factor in our success tonight. So, too, were our fans. They gave us a lift when we needed it.”
On Sunday, MSU drove Kentucky (17-6, 8-4) to four games after being down 2-0, but the Dawgs would drop the decision to the Wildcats in scores of 25-30, 30-32, 30-23 and 25-30.
The match was televised on Fox Sports South and occurred on MSU’s Fan Appreciation Day.
“I definitely think we put some pressure on Kentucky with our serves,” Seals said. “We controlled some of their attacks by our serves. We had to change strategies during the half, and it seemed to work during that third game. Service errors do make a difference, but we usually make a lot of them. We just had them at the wrong times today.”
MSU’s five seniors had a weekend to remember, each having solid contributions to State’s performances against the Lady Vols and Wildcats. The outstanding senior play began in the middle of the court for MSU.
Middle blocker Lauren Kowal, of Chesterfield, Mo., who transferred to MSU from Xavier last season, had a career-best hitting night with 12 kills on a .526 hitting performance against Tennessee. She also contributed with five blocks in the Kentucky match.
MSU’s other senior middle blocker Seago, of Rockford, Ill., also had a career night against Tennessee, tallying 16 kills. In the Kentucky match, Seago notched 10 more kills on a .409 clip. In the Tennessee match, Kowal and Seago combined for 14 assisted blocks.
Senior libero Megan Lukasek, of St. Louis, Mo., climbed to second on MSU’s all-time digs list on the weekend after tallying 51 total digs on the weekend.
Jamie Joyner, a senior opposite hitter, also of St. Louis, had a career-high 21 digs against Tennessee Friday night. She added 12 kills in that match and then notched another “double-double” against Kentucky with 11 kills and 10 digs.
MSU’s senior setter Eva Kriegel, of Jaszbereny, Hungary, matched a season-best with 16 digs against Tennessee. Her most notable stat, however, was the eight total service aces she dished out during the weekend. Kriegel also contributed 81 assists in the two contests.
With the split-decision weekend, MSU continues to linger in the inferior part of the Southeastern Conference standings, but Seago said the team hopes to change that during the second half of the conference schedule.
“We’re in the bottom half of the SEC rankings right now,” she said. “Our goal is to move up toward the top. Our main goal is that we want an NCAA birth this year.”
Seago said in order to reach that goal, the team must have a winning record and finish in the top five in the SEC.
We’re very excited about the upcoming schedule now,” she said. “We had a rough first half, so we’re ready to play these teams a second time.