Dan Mullen’s football team is not the only Mississippi State bunch taking on a top-10 team this week.
After cruising to the championship in the MCM Elegante’ Invitational last weekend in Beaumont, Texas, Jenny Hazelwood’s volleyball Bulldogs begin Southeastern Conference play tonight against No. 7 Florida.
The Bulldogs (5-4) defeated Baylor and University of Texas-El Paso last weekend, but this weekend’s opponents of Florida and South Carolina will provide much tougher competition, Hazelwood said.
“Florida is a very big, very physical opponent,” Hazelwood said. “Obviously a talented team. We’re going to be able to do some things that can help us. We know where they struggle a little bit, and we’ll try to take advantage of those areas. Some of those are things we’re good at.”
One of the keys to the Bulldogs’ successful weekend was the play of senior outside hitter Caitlin Rance, who was named tournament MVP and nominated for national player of the week by Collegiate Volleyball Update. The Kingwood, Texas native racked up 65 kills, 25 digs and eight blocks over the weekend.
Hazelwood said it is no secret the team will try to set Rance up for kills, but she still finds a way to put up big numbers, and is hoping she does more of the same this weekend.
“You put up numbers like she did this weekend and you’re doing great things, not just ‘oh, that’s really good’,” Hazelwood said. “It’s really impressive … She was just really, really good.”
The Lady Bulldogs struggled early in the season, dropping four of their first five matches in 2011. Since then, MSU has won four consecutive matches, three of which came last weekend.
Now as MSU prepares for two months of SEC competition, Rance said she believes the team is starting to hit its stride but will have to do better if it wants to compete with highly-ranked teams such as Florida.
“It was awesome winning this weekend, but we know that the SEC is only going to get more competitive and harder,” Rance said. “We know that we have to step up our level of play. We’re feeding off of this weekend, but we know we have to do better.”
Freshman middle blocker Lainey Wyman will be getting her first taste of SEC competition this weekend, but it will come against a familiar opponent for the Joliet, Ill. native. Wyman played high school volleyball at Joliet Catholic Academy with reigning SEC Player of the Year Kelly Murphy, who anchors Florida’s right side.
Wyman has been able to make an immediate impact for MSU as she leads all SEC freshmen in blocks with 41, and her average of 1.21 blocks per set is second in the league. Hazelwood praised Wyman’s ability to remain calm under pressure, something Wyman will be looking to do again this weekend.
“I’m not nervous; I’m excited,” Wyman said of facing a top-10 opponent. “I think it’ll be fun. It’ll be a lot quicker and a lot harder than the tournaments, but I’m ready.”
Although Wyman has made an impact in her first year on campus, Hazelwood said she still has plenty of room to grow.
“Not much has phased her, so that’s allowed her to just go out there and play,” Hazelwood said. “She has things that she can get a lot better at and she’s still doing really well. Once we can work on those things with her, I think she’s going to be even more amazing.”
Hazelwood expects Sunday’s matchup against South Carolina to be a defensive one as the Gamecocks lead the SEC in digs. In comparison, she also added South Carolina is a little bit smaller than Florida.
The volleyball Bulldogs have had to make some slight adjustments to their schedules this week with the home Thursday night football game. The Newell-Grissom parking lot was cleared Wednesday night to accompany the fireworks for the Cowbell Yell pep rally. Hazelwood said it has also been tough to fit the team’s study hall hours in.
However, even with all the distractions on campus this week, said her team will be in the right mindset when they take on Florida tonight.
“I’ve seen more focus in them when it comes to volleyball than I’ve seen since they’ve been here,” Hazelwood said. “They’re very tuned in to what a big match we have Friday night. When it’s gameday, I think it’s going to be all gameday for them.”