The Mississippi State Volleyball team took on their last October contender, the Tennessee Volunteers, Sunday at Newell Grissom Stadium. Despite a valiant effort the home team fell in an overtime loss 3-2. The Bulldogs began the match on a roll, taking the first set easily, 25-17.
Tennessee trailed the entire set with confusing player placement and other common errors. State had a combination of great passes and single player performance as junior Evie Grace Singleton totaled eight kills. As a unit, the team combined to earn a total of 59 kills.
The second set was more of a challenge as the Volunteers gave an effort to keep up this time. The game was running at a much slower tempo and the Vols game plan was much tighter and controlled. The score lead repeatedly changed but in a close one, the Bulldogs improved to 2 sets, winning 25-23. After this close set, Tennessee started turning their A-game on. Starting on the right foot, the Vols began to increase the score gap at 10-2. The momentum swung in their favor, as Tennessee earned a 26-23 set win. Tennessee kept fighting the uphill battle in the fourth set to push the match to overtime. They stunned State on a comeback win, dominating and claiming that set 25-16. “We switched our offense to 6-2 and it worked for the first two sets,” Head Coach David McFatrich said. The Bulldogs kept repeating crucial mistakes as the Volunteers began tightening up their defense. “We had a great performance the second set, but couldn’t sustain the momentum,” Coach McFatrich commented. “It cost us the game.”
The Vols kept that fire alive in overtime, controlling every aspect of the game and winning the match in the fifth set, 15-7. “We allowed them to become unafraid during the middle of the match. During an away game, if the team gains a powerful momentum things like this happen,” McFatrich explained. In a lighter point, freshman Katie Nicholson earned her career-high seven blocks during the loss.
The loss brings the Bulldogs record during October resulted in 2-6 and their SEC conference record to 3-7. Their next game is against Troy in Troy, Alabama on November 2. The girls return home November 8 to play in another conference game against Arkansas at 1p.m.
