After this weekend, the Mississippi State Bulldogs are trying to swallow the hard balance of knowing they played well, yet still came out on the wrong side of both matches they played.
The Bulldogs (6-14, 1-8 SEC) lost their fifth- and sixth-straight matches against LSU and Georgia over the weekend, both by 3-1 margins.
Junior outside hitter Ioana Demian said the team was disappointed following Sunday’s loss to Georgia.
“It was frustrating because we know that we could have won,” Demian said. “We just have to finish. It’s hard when you lose like this. It’s very disappointing.”
Mississippi State fell to the Tigers of LSU by scores of 25-18, 20-25, 26-24 and 25-15. The LSU victory was the 300th career win for head coach Fran Flory, and was the fifth-straight Tiger victory over MSU in the series.
Fifth-year MSU head coach Tina Seals was pleased with the way her team played, but pointed out the match wasn’t perfect.
“I liked our intensity and the way we battled a very talented and well-coached LSU team tonight,” Seals told MSU media relations. “We came so close but just couldn’t find a way to get over the hump.”
Perhaps the most frustrating and disheartening part of the LSU match was the third set, in which the Bulldogs fell to the Tigers after leading 24-22. After LSU reeled off four consecutive points to steal the set from the Bulldogs, Seals said the momentum was pretty much gone from then on.
“That was a tough set to lose,” said Seals. “We put ourselves in a position to take the lead in the match, but weren’t able to keep our momentum going.”
The Tigers went on to handily defeat MSU in the deciding fourth set, riding the momentum from the come-from-behind rally in the third set.
Sunday would be eerily similar to Friday’s contest, serving up the same disappointment and heartbreak.
Georgia (12-9, 5-5 SEC) came out and dominated MSU in the first set by a score of 25-12, and it seemed that MSU would be easily swept in the contest.
However, the second set featured a domination of a Maroon and White variety as MSU defeated Georgia by a 25-11 margin.
Seals said she believed the television cameras had a lot to do with the Bulldogs’ resurgence.
“I think it was a matter of television being here, and with our young players, they were just nervous,” Seals said. “Our fans just pulled us back into the game in the second set.”
With the score tied 1-1 at intermission, MSU had the momentum and the belief that the match was attainable.
The haunting part of Sunday’s contest came in the form of the match’s third set. The set was essentially a deadlock throughout, even up to the point of being tied 24-24.
Georgia then put the set away with a kill from team leader Maria Taylor and an attack error by freshman Faith Steinwedell. It was the second time in as many matches over the weekend that State lost the third set 26-24.
And once again, after losing that third set, MSU’s opponent rode the momentum into the deciding fourth set. Georgia toppled MSU 25-21 in the final set, earning its second-straight win over MSU in the series.
One big thing that went MSU’s way was the fact that UGA began making a lot of mistakes from the second set on.
Sophomore middle blocker Ashley Newsome said that helped the team out a lot.
“When they made mistakes, it boosted us up and fueled our intensity,” Newsome said. “It helped us out a lot.”
Newsome had a solid outing against the Bulldogs of the SEC East, totaling 10 kills on a .500 hitting percentage with five blocks.
Seals and the rest of the team agreed that the biggest thing it has to work on is playing all the way to the end of the match and getting the wins.
“We are still improving,” Seals said. “We just have to learn how to finish sets. That’s what hurt us against LSU, and we continued to struggle with that against Georgia. We played hard in both matches, though.”