The Mississippi State volleyball team begins its second tournament of the season tonight in Atlanta, Ga.
The Bulldogs (3-0) compete in the Regency Suites Midtown Invitational tonight and Saturday, a tournament that features four other teams.
Georgia is the other Southeastern conference team in the tournament.
Mississippi State opens play Friday at 12:30 p.m. against tournament host Georgia Tech (0-0). The Yellow Jackets finished last season with a 16-15 record, notching a 12-10 record in the ACC. MSU leads the all-time series against Georgia Tech 4-0. The afternoon match between the Dawgs and Jackets will kick off the season for Tech, so MSU head coach Tina Seals has planned for the pairing as best she can.
“We will be Georgia Tech’s first opponent,” Seals said. “So we’re glad that we have our first tournament under our belt heading into that matchup. Georgia Tech is always a strong team.
They run a quicker offense than what we saw last weekend.”
Tonight MSU will tussle with the Northern Iowa Panthers (2-1).
Northern Iowa finished a solid 20-12 in 2005, with a 12-6 conference record in the Missouri Valley Conference. Mississippi State has never faced Northern Iowa.
Georgia State (1-1) will test the Bulldogs at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the final match of the tournament.
Georgia State completed the 2005 season with an 11-18 final record, with an even 9-9 record in the Colonial Athletic Association.
Mississippi State hasn’t seen Georgia State since 1996 but leads the series 3-2.
Though MSU never faces Georgia head-to-head, UGA will still compete with Mississippi State for the tournament championship.
Mississippi State defeated Georgia twice last season, once in Starkville by a score of 3-1 and once in Athens 3-2. Georgia finished the 2005 season with a 10-18 record, 5-11 in the SEC.
The two sets of Bulldogs collide during the regular season in Athens, Ga., Oct. 13 and in Starkville Nov. 15.
Sophomore outside hitter Cristina Jucan currently leads the team in nearly every offensive statistic.
Jucan tallied a staggering 51 kills in last weekend’s tournament in Lafayette, La., while hitting at a .400 clip.
Defensively, Jucan leads the team in digs with 35. Her performance has stifled the coaching staff’s doubts about starting.
“Cristina is an exceptional athlete,” Seals said. “We just saw a glimpse of that in the spring. It was very exciting to see what she did in the first tournament this year, and we just expect her to get better and better each time we play.”
Junior setter/outside hitter Eva Kriegel also contributed to the team’s victory in the Capital One Classic. Kriegel set 89 of the Bulldogs’ 143 kills last weekend, which earned her tournament MVP.
Kriegel also tallied 14 kills, hitting at a .458 hitting percentage.
With 19 digs, Kriegel also helps the team defensively.
“Eva was steady on the court,” Seals said. “Not only is she a good setter, but she’s a good hitter as well. She’s a very versatile player, and she’s done a great job running our offense.”
The Bulldogs look to add another tournament title to the trophy case this weekend but also look to prepare themselves for bigger things to come.
SEC play lurks in the future, which comes with the opportunity to return to postseason play.