Mississippi State University volleyball (9-9, 0-3 SEC) fell to the University of Mississippi (11-5, 2-1 SEC) in three games (12-25, 13-25, 24-26) Wednesday night, during the second SEC home match of the season.
The loss is the first to the Rebels under MSU head coach David McFatrich, who took over the program three years ago.
The Rebels earned the first point of the first game, grabbing momentum early and carrying it throughout the match. Between the 12 kills the Rebels scored during the first game, MSU was only able to score consecutive points twice.
Sara Maddox, a MSU freshman from Leawood, Kansas, said she knew something was off from the start of the match.
“I just think we lacked energy in the first two matches,” Maddox said. “We came out expecting to play like we usually do, but we didn’t and it showed on the court.”
Although the Rebels beat MSU to the first point again in the second set, the Bulldogs did not give up easily. With the Bulldogs down 19-3, a block by freshman Laura Rose Gray was returned with an attack error by Ole Miss senior Kate Gibson. This gave the Bulldogs their first point in 11 points.
Two kills and one ace followed for MSU as Ole Miss made five errors, bringing the final score of the second set to 25-13.
The Bulldogs came out stronger in the third set, but not strong enough. The score was tied five separate times and neither team held a lead greater than three points.
After a game of hard-fought rallies, a kill by MSU senior, Jelena Vujcin, tied the score at 23 points. An attack error from each team immediately followed, tying the score again at 24. A kill by Ole Miss sophomore Nayo Warnell and an attack error by Maddox gave the Rebels the two points they needed to win the set and complete the sweep.
“I like the way we competed in the third game, but we can’t decide to show up in the third game,” McFatrich said. “It’s the SEC—you can’t do that.”
Although it took two games for the Volley Dawgs to start showing energy on the court, the 1,000-plus in attendance stayed lively throughout the match.
“The crowd was incredible,” McFatrich said. “They stayed until the end even though their home team was getting beat.”
However, McFatrich said the crowd might have also negatively affected some of his players. 40 percent of the team is young, and had never played in a nationally televised game or a home game with that many fans. However, McFatrich said he does not want to use age as an excuse.
“I don’t care how young you are, you have to have more energy and effort than that,” he said. “We have to do a better job of translating the effort and energy they give in practice to the matches.”
The Volley Dawgs will face No. 10 University of Kentucky (11-2, 2-0 SEC), their first nationally ranked opponent of the season, on Sunday.
The first match is set for 2 p.m. in the Newell-Grissom Building. SEC Network + will live-stream the game.