Tournament host New Orleans rallied from a 2-1 deficit Saturday night to nip Mississippi State 3-2 in the final match of the UNO/Wyndham-Metairie Classic held at UNO’s Lakefront Arena. Despite the five-game setback (28-30, 30 25, 21-30, 30-21, 15-8) , Mississippi State (9-5) captured the tournament title, posting the best record (8-3) in tournament games played. Mississippi State returns to action and opens its 2002 SEC schedule Friday at 7 p.m. in the Newell-Grissom Building, hosting the Georgia Bulldogs.
“We let this one slip away from us,” coach Brenda Bowlin said following the tournament finale. “We had poor execution in a lot of areas, and it all seemed to start with our serve-receive game where we had 14 receiving errors.
“Those breakdowns passing the ball made it difficult for our offense to started. We’ve obviously got some work ahead of us to get ready for our tough conference schedule.”
Rachel Cooper registered a match-high 19 kills and 12 digs, all-tournament team selection Misty Hubenthal added 18 kills and 14 digs, and tournament MVP Hilary Chambers had eight kills and seven total blocks to pace MSU against UNO. State out-hit UNO .180 to .175 and held a similarly slim 14 to 13 advantage in total team blocks. UNO was paced by Jennifer Cruz’s 16 kills and an 11-kill, 15-dig performance by Melissa Caravella.
The Bulldogs sandwiched 30-28 and 30-21 wins around a 30-25 UNO win in game two to take a 2-1 lead in the match. But the Privateers used an 11-1 run to pull away from a tight contest for a match-tying 30-21 win in the fourth stanza and hit at a match-best .417 clip to take the match-clinching fifth game 15-7.
In a match that lasted a season-shortest 63 minutes, the Bulldogs raced past Centenary 3-0. Misty Hubenthal registered seven of her match-high 17 kills in the first game as MSU took control early. The Bulldogs out-hit the Ladies .440 to -.037 in the opening stanza and trailed only briefly in the second game before nailing down the match with 30-16 and 30-23 wins.
Hubenthal hit .577, Nicole Broome matched a career-best with 12 kills and Hilary Chambers added 10 kills with four blocks to pace MSU. Tanika Taylor and Jennifer Hadden had eight digs apiece to lead the Bulldog defensive effort.