Looking to rebound from a failed showing last weekend, the Mississippi State volleyball team will duel with two more SEC schools tonight and Sunday.The Bulldogs (6-11, 1-7) take on Georgia (13-5, 4-4) tonight and Auburn (10-9, 2-6) Sunday afternoon.
First-year assistant coach Don Perkins thinks the team is turning over a new page, however.
“Right now, I think we’re playing better volleyball than we have all season long,” Perkins said. “We played a good Ole Miss team that went on to beat Alabama later in the weekend, and LSU is now No. 18 in the country. We looked pretty good, and we keep getting better every week. We’re having a little trouble with jump servers, and our passing can be a little inconsistent. We’re getting able to put together some things, though, and we’re getting more out of it. We played our best volleyball in the first game against LSU.”
Last weekend, State dropped two conference matches by scores of 3-1, continuing the backslide of a four-game losing streak. The Bulldogs currently own their worst SEC record since Tina Seals has been head coach of the team.
The matches against Georgia and Auburn this weekend conclude the first half of the Bulldogs’ SEC schedule. MSU has an 11-15 record in the second half of the conference schedule under the rule of Seals, compared to an 8-18 record in the first half.
First serve for the duel between the two Bulldog rosters is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight. UGA currently owns the series against MSU by a 30-8 margin, but MSU has taken four of the last MSU has taken four of the last five.
UGA is coming off an up-and-down week, as they downed Auburn last Wednesday by a score of 3-0, then lost to Arkansas on Friday by a 3-2 score.
“Georgia is very athletic,” Perkins said. “They have a new coach and a new system and a lot of new players. They will probably make some mistakes, but they do have some good athletes. It should be a good matchup for us.”
Sunday will pit MSU against SEC West foe Auburn, who is coming off a flip-side weekend compared to Georgia. After losing to Georgia 3-0 Wednesday, the Tigers upended Arkansas by the same 3-2 score that the Lady Razorbacks defeated Georgia with.
Auburn owns the series against MSU 27-14. The home team has won the last four meetings between the two schools.
“Auburn’s struggled a little bit, but they’re coming off a big win against Arkansas,” Perkins said. “That seems to set a team straight. If things aren’t going well, and then you’re able to pull off a win, you feel a lot better about things. They’re coming in with some confidence, and they’re a good team.”
Despite fighting a back injury, MSU junior outside hitter Cristina Jucan has taken over as the offensive leader for the Bulldogs. She is averaging 3.54 kills per game on a .166 hitting percentage. Senior setter Eva Kriegel is averaging 9.28 assists per game.
Injuries continue to plague the Bulldogs, as it seems to be the same song with a different verse each week.
“You know injuries are going to come,” Perkins said. “You can’t go into a season expecting everyone to be healthy all the time. At the same time, I think we’ve had more than our fair share. You hate to blame it on any one thing, but the injuries do affect the way we practice, the way we train, how we play, and our lineups throughout the season. It has affected us, but there’s nothing we can do about it. We just have to play on.