A slow start and a fast finish netted Mississippi State a hard-fought 3-2 road win Tuesday night as the Bulldogs (6-2) nipped Middle Tennessee State (6-3) in a five-game thriller at MTSU’s Alumni Gym. The win extended MSU’s early-season win streak to six matches. The Lady Blue Raiders rode the power attacks of Erin Hillstorm and Keke Deckard to a 2-1 match lead, sandwiching 30-20 and 30-25 wins around a 30-28 Bulldog win in the second game.
But State pulled away from a 26-26 deadlock in game four to keep the match alive with a 30-27 win, and in the decisive fifth game the Bulldogs hit at a sizzling .450 clip and never trailed in posting a 15-7 win.
“This was a nice win against a fine Middle Tennessee State team on the road,” said coach Brenda Bowlin. “They were very well prepared for us and played exceptionally well, especially early in the match. But I’m proud of the way our kids hung in there, kept battling and turned it up a notch down the stretch.”
Senior Misty Hubenthal registered her eighth team-leading kills performance with 16 kills and added 12 digs for her fifth double-double of the year. Freshman Rachel Cooper had 15 kills, Jennifer Rousey totaled 14 and Hilary Chambers, on an exceptional .440 hitting night, added 12 with seven blocks.
Setter Jennifer Hadden paced a foursome of Bulldogs in double figures in digs with 15 and with 29 assists became the eighth Bulldog to reach 1,000 assists in a career. MTSU, which out-hit State .240 to .219, got 22 kills from Hillstorm and 21 from Deckard. Riding a modest six-match winning streak, Mississippi State’s Volleyball Bulldogs slip back into their traveling shoes this weekend for a slate of three matches during a school-first trip to Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, Ill.
The Bulldogs take a 6-2 record to this weekend’s competition in the Country Inn & Suites/Northern Illinois Huskie Invitational. State meets Saint Louis (4-3) today at 5 p.m., then Saturday takes on host Northern Illinois (2-3) at 2 p.m. and Wisconsin-Green Bay (4-3) at 5 p.m. State enters the tournament just two wins shy of matching the team’s 2001 win total.
MSU is making its first volleyball trip to DeKalb, Ill., and will be facing two of the three tournament opponents for the first time. The Bulldogs have not previously met their two Saturday foes–Horizon League member Wisconsin-Green Bay and tournament host Northern Illinois of the Mid-America Conference. State has faced the Saint Louis Billikens from Conference USA, dropping a 3-0 decision in the 1995 Boise State Classic. Bulldog coach Brenda Bowlin has compiled a 3-1 career coaching mark against Saint Louis and is 0-1 against Northern Illinois. She has not previously coached against Wisconsin-Green Bay.