A season-opening tournament weekend behind them, Mississippi State’s Volleyball Bulldogs are preparing this week to make their 2002 home debut in this weekend’s third annual MSU/Ramada Inn Classic. The Friday-Saturday round-robin competition pits coach Brenda Bowlin’s Bulldogs against Boston College (3-0), Lamar and Samford. The BC Eagles (3-0) take on the Lamar Cardinals (2-1) at 4:30 p.m. in Friday’s opener while State (2-2) tangles with the Samford Bulldogs (1-3) in the 7:30 p.m. nightcap.
MSU swept past North Texas 3-1 and blanked Air Force 3-0 last Saturday to earn a split of four matches in the season-opening CenturyTel/Roger Beasley Honda Premier Tournament in San Marcos, Texas. The Bulldogs dropped a hard-fought 3-2 decision to eventual tourney champ Southern Illinois and bowed to host Southwest Texas State 3-1 in Friday’s opening competition.
“It will be good to play on the home court in Humphrey Coliseum this weekend,” said sixth-year MSU head volleyball coach Brenda Bowlin. “Overall I was fairly pleased with our play last weekend. We lost in five games to an senior-laden Southern Illinois team and played well at times in a loss to the host Southwest Texas team. But overall we got solid play from most of our players. Our serve-receive passing is much improved this year, and that will show up in more production on offense.”
A sizzling .425 hitting percentage and strong play at the next helped Bulldog junior middle blocker Jennifer Rousey earned all-tournament team honors in last weekend’s season-opening tournament in San Marcos, Texas. The Champaign, Ill., product totaled 43 kills, 14 digs and 13 blocks in four matches, capping the weekend with an error-free, eight-kill effort (.615)
against Air Force. It marked the second straight season-opening all-tournament team selection for Rousey, who opened the 2001 campaign with similar honors at the 2001 Demon Deacon Invitational at Wake Forest.
MSU team captain Misty Hubenthal, playing in her home state of Texas as a collegian for the first time, launched her senior season in impressive fashion last weekend. The veteran outside hitter from Georgetown, Texas, piled up team-leading totals with 69 kills, 43 digs and 10 service aces to pace State in Southwest Texas State1s CenturyTel/Roger Beasley Honda Premier Tournament. Hubenthal hit .304 for the weekend, registering three
double-doubles (kills and digs) in four matches. She had 24 kills (one shy of a personal-best) without an error in an impressive .490 hitting performance against North Texas. She enters the weekend ranked second in the SEC in total kills.
Hubenthal, making a bid to become the seventh Bulldog to reach 1,000 career kills, now has 779. She is 27 kills away from career top-10 status, and with 84 aces she needs 29 more to attain career top-10 status at the serving
stripe.
Bulldog head coach Brenda Bowlin is also bearing down on a milestone: her 150th career coaching victory. Including five years as head coach at Murray State (1992 to 1995), Bowlin has compiled a 149-164 career mark in 10-plus seasons as a head coach. The Sykesville, Md., native and Salisbury (Md.) University graduate (1989) has compiled a 58-91 worksheet at MSU, the second-most wins among Bulldog volleyball coaches. She owns the school single-season and career record for Southeastern Conference wins and her 2000 edition posted a 16-14 mark, State’s first winning season on the volleyball court since 1992.