When hosting a team that has won 99 consecutive regular season conference matches, the host must play hard and see what happens. That is just what the MSU volleyball team did in a 3-0 loss to the No. 3 Florida Gators (12-1, 2-0 SEC). “We told our team that ‘Attitude is EVERYTHING,'” said Bulldog head coach Brenda Bowlin. “I am very proud of our effort: we never gave up, we played hard, and we showed heart.”
State (9-7, 0-2 SEC) came out of the gates with enthusiasm and battled the titans of SEC volleyball who have won 11 consecutive conference championships. The Bulldogs had a better attack percentage (.294 to .289), but that would not be enough as the Gators went on a hot streak that was sparked by tough jump serves.
Aury Cruz commanded the barrage on her way to a match-high 4-ace total. Cruz led the Gator assault with 15 kills and posted 16 digs to lead the UF defense. Florida kept the fierce attack up in game 2, hitting an astronomical .469, and shut the Bulldogs down to post a 30-14 win. MSU did not rollover, limiting the Gators to just .163 on the attack in the 30-24 loss. The defensive effort was lead by freshman Rachel Cooper’s 14 digs, but Florida would have too much on the way to setting the nation’s longest winning streak in regular season league games. The streak dates back to 1995. In the all-time series, the Gators have never lost to the Bulldogs and have only squandered two games against MSU in 18 years.
In Friday night’s opener, MSU started slowly in game one, fought back to the verge of winning game two, overcame the University of Georgia (11-5, 1-0 SEC) in game three to stay in the match, and dug an insurmountable ditch to begin game four. In game one, the MSU attack was thwarted by inconsistent service return efforts that lead to scrambling to make the passes that would set up kills. Consequently, MSU hit just .037 on the way to dropping the match opener 30-17.
UGA middle blocker Alexandra Oquendo, fresh off of academic ineligibility, delivered a slew of tough serves on the way to racking up 4 aces in her first action of the year.
“She (Oquendo) wasn’t in the game film that we had, nor on any stat sheet,” said Bowlin. “We didn’t handle serves very well tonight.”
MSU woke up in game two, and the score seesawed until UGA managed to surpass State on the way to building a crucial 2-0 lead with a 32-30 win. At intermission, Bowlin told her team, “Hang in there. We are evenly matched, but we must stop making mistakes.”
State did just that, and both teams hit a stellar .350 on the attack as MSU won 35-33. When MSU should have had a flow, UGA stormed out of the gate in game four, taking a 7-0 lead en route to the 30-16 match-clenching win.
“We should have been up, but we lacked consistency in all aspects. We didn’t execute and dug a tough hole for ourselves,” said senior Misty Hubenthal.
The Bulldog attack was led by Hubenthal with 14 kills, while juniors Hilary Chambers and Nicole Broome added 13 and 10 respectively. Broome led the Dawgs with a stout .389 attack percentage.
“I don’t have an answer for what happened between games three and four. I wish I did,” Bowlin said. “The good thing is that we have a chance to redeem ourselves against them in two weeks at their house.”
“We need to bring the same teamwork, intensity and enthusiasm we had against Florida into next weekend’s matches with Auburn and Alabama,” added Bowlin.