The volleyball Bulldogs practiced hard this week to try to rebound from last weekend’s losses at Ole Miss and Arkansas, but it was what went on after practice that was perhaps most important.
Following Wednesday’s practice, defensive specialists Kayla Woodard and Leanna King, a sophomore and freshman, respectively, stayed after practice to receive serves from freshman middle hitter Mandy Mellencamp.
Faulty serve reception, fifth-year head coach Tina Seals said, led to the Bulldogs’ (6-12, 1-6 SEC) shutout loss to Arkansas last Sunday. The match was one MSU expected to win or at least compete in to win.
“We had a total serve-reception breakdown against Arkansas,” Seals said. “We’re spending extra time working on serve reception, and that’s been a big focus for us this week.”
The Bulldogs are focused on tonight’s match against LSU (9-6, 4-4 SEC) and Sunday’s against Georgia (10-9, 3-5 SEC) instead of thinking about what happened last weekend.
“We’re just trying to forget what happened,” junior setter Dorey Gray said. “We’re learning from the mistakes we made. If we just dwell on it, that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re getting better.”
Gray and fellow junior Ioana Demian, recently found themselves in the positions of the most experienced players on the squad. The Bulldogs have been without lone senior Cristina Jucan for the past month due to a back injury she incurred, and the club has had to get used to that.
Seals said Jucan may not be able to play for the rest of the season. She added that coaching a team without a senior provides quite a challenge.
“It’s when you have to do your best coaching,” Seals said. “You have to worry about your own team rather than your opponents. Everything is new and young. We’ve been improving with every match this year, with the exception of Arkansas, but those happen.”
Tonight’s match against LSU will bring some stiff competition to the Newell-Grissom building. The Tigers have had their share of ups and downs in the SEC this season, as they currently sit with a .500 record.
LSU will boast an experience advantage over the Bulldogs, as the Purple and Gold will bring five upperclassmen to Starkville, as one – junior middle blocker Lauren DeGirolamo – went down for the season with a knee injury a few weeks ago.
“[The Tigers] are very athletic and very tall,” Seals said. “They’ve had some injuries, however, so they’re in the process of adjusting their lineup.”
The LSU age advantage might not be as big of an advantage as the Tigers would like, however. As of late, it is MSU’s freshmen who have made the biggest impact on the court.
Last weekend, freshman hitter Faith Steinwedell, of La Jolla, Calif., paced the Bulldogs with 23 kills against Ole Miss and Arkansas. Steinwedell also hit with solid averages throughout the two contests, which is something the team has struggled with this season.
Mellencamp has also been solid recently, finding herself fourth on the Bulldog roster in kills, but, perhaps more importantly, first in hitting percentage among the team’s starters.
King has also seen action on the court, both offensively and defensively, providing lone returning starter Woodard with occasional relief.
“[The freshmen] did a great job last weekend,” Woodard said. “I can remember last year I was so nervous, but I was fortunate enough to have a bunch of older girls to help me out. They’ve stepped up and done their jobs, though, and they’re a big asset to our team.”
Sunday, MSU will take on Georgia in a match that will be televised on Fox Sports Net South.
State is 4-3 all-time on television, with one of those wins coming against UGA in 2000.
Seals said she isn’t sure how the young team will react and perform in front of the television cameras, but she has definitely seen a difference in the team’s demeanor depending on where it plays.
“I’ve noticed a major energy-level increase when we play in front of our home crowd,” Seals said. “It’s hard for any team to play on the road. Just to be back at home is a huge benefit to us.”