Looking to bounce back from three straight SEC losses, the Mississippi State volleyball team will return home this weekend in search of their first SEC win.
After opening the season with a nine-game winning streak, the Bulldogs have dropped four in a row, three of which have been conference losses.
MSU will begin play in the SEC West Division Friday against the Auburn Tigers (7-5, 1-3 SEC). The Alabama Crimson Tide (14-3, 2-2 SEC) will visit Starkville Sunday.
“Both of these teams have been successful in the early part of the season,” MSU volleyball head coach Tina Seals said. “They’re going to be strong competition, but we hope to be up to the challenge.”
State’s recent SEC road trip handed them two losses, South Carolina 3-1 and Tennessee 3-0. The loss to UT marked the first time MSU was shut out this season.
MSU’s other SEC games have featured the Florida Gators defeating State at home 3-1, and MSU and Georgia battling to a 1-1 tie before tornadoes forced the game into postponement.
The SEC hasn’t made a decision whether or not to continue the game.
Coach Seals believes the team’s youth and inexperience have played a part in a winless SEC season thus far.
“We’re a really young team,” Seals said. “Sometimes we even start the match with one senior, one junior, one freshman and three sophomores. And we’ve been playing against three or four seniors on the court. We’re going through a maturing process right now.”
The MSU VolleyDawgs are led this year by senior Rachel Cooper, former SEC Player of the Week, who has tallied 206 kills on the season.
She lacks only 40 kills to move up to fourth in MSU history. Two sophomores have risen to reach the century mark in kills this season. Jamie Joyner now has 111, and Eva Kriegel has 101.
State needs some SEC wins desperately if they want to vie for the SEC title.
“If our goal is to win the West Division, then of course [winning these games this weekend is] important,” Seals said. “But the most important thing for us to do is to play our best, and to enjoy the matches.”