After a weekend in which thousands witnessed the Mississippi State volleyball team upset a nationally-ranked Kentucky Wildcat squad, the Bulldogs took a step back in their two games this past weekend, dropping decisions to South Carolina on Friday night and Florida Sunday afternoon.
MSU looked to carry momentum from its biggest win of the 2011 season into their matchup with the South Carolina Gamecocks. State claimed its home matchup versus the Gamecocks earlier in the year, but senior outside hitter Caitlin Rance’s 17 kills were not enough to power the Bulldogs to the season sweep, as USC took the match in straight sets 25-19, 26-24, 25-22. The loss moved MSU to 10-10 on the season and 5-6 in SEC play.
“(South Carolina) definitely just came out and played hard and worked hard,” said junior right-side hitter Faith Steinwedell. “Ever since the Kentucky game, everyone has begun to notice that we’re a force to be reckoned with. In the past, they might have overlooked us or not expected us to be good. Now, people know we’re a good team. They really prepared for us.”
Caitlin Rance’s game-high 17 kills against the Gamecocks moved her into the MSU 1,000 career kill club, and she moved past Kris Dawson and Jamie Joyner into eighth place for all-time kills at State. Although it seems like she breaks a different record every weekend, Rance said the only stat she really cares about is her team’s record.
“(The records) are always in the back of my mind, but I would rather the team win than achieve any record like that,” she said.
Faith Steinwedell added eight kills and eight digs for the Bulldogs, and senior middle-blocker Hannah Wilkinson led the team with three blocks and notched her 100th career block in the first set of the match.
After a disappointing defeat, MSU turned its attention to salvaging a split of their weekend road trip. State traveled to Gainesville in hope of upsetting the 13th-ranked Florida Gators on Sunday, but the Bulldogs were unable to find any rhythm and were once again defeated in straight sets 25-23, 25-19, 25-18. Florida also beat the Bulldogs on paper, where the Gators outmatched MSU in kills, digs and total team blocking. Caitlin Rance once again led State in kills, tallying a third of the team’s total kills with 13. Junior outside hitter Chanelle Baker led the Bulldogs with three blocks and Faith Steinwedell racked up a team-high 10 digs.
“(Florida) is so strong, so solid,” said MSU head coach Jenny Hazelwood after the game. “They have six great hitters that, at any time, can get kills and get their opponents in tough situations. We did some great things at times, but we have got to minimize the times we allow them to go on runs.”
The loss to the Gators dropped the Bulldogs back below the .500 mark for the season and lowered their conference record to 5-7. Although MSU as a whole did not play well over the weekend, there were a couple of positives to take away from the matches, including the 30 kills Caitlin Rance tallied in the Bulldogs’ two games. Rance has been a staple of consistency for MSU this year, and Hazelwood said her continual success will play a vital role in dictating the final outcome of the 2011 season.
“It starts with (Rance),” Hazelwood said. “She’s someone we can depend on match in and match out. As a team, we can go into each match knowing she’s going to be a great contributor. The thing is, all of our opponents know it too, and they still can’t shut her down.”
Rance and the Bulldogs will now prepare for a two-game home stand in which they will host two divisional opponents. MSU will play the Arkansas Razorbacks Friday at 7 p.m. and the LSU Tigers at 1 p.m. Sunday. Both games will be played at the Newell-Grissom Building. With the Bulldogs’ conference schedule beginning to wind down, Hazelwood stressed how crucial playing well will be for her team to play well this coming weekend.
“I really think they are possibly the two most important matches of the season for us,” Hazelwood said. “You’ve got two SEC West teams that are ahead of us right now that are coming to our gym, and they are teams that I feel like, if we play well and really execute, we can have some success against.”
MSU’s game against LSU this Sunday will be a regionally-televised game broadcast on Comcast Sports Southeast.