Winning in football means playing four quarters. Winning in baseball means getting 27 outs. Winning in volleyball means closing the deal when you have a lead.
This is a consistent problem for the Lady Bulldogs, who dropped to 0-1 in the Southeastern Conference Wednesday night, losing in five games at Mississippi.
The Dawgs took the first game in a 30-19 rout, but then the Rebels took games two and three. Facing a loss, the Bulldogs regrouped in the fourth game and came away with a narrow 30-28 victory.
This set up a deciding game five, one that saw the Bulldogs attack the Rebels and gain a 9-4 lead.
At this juncture, the Bulldogs were a mere six points away from opening up the SEC schedule victoriously.
However, the Rebels rallied for 11 straight points, defeating MSU 15-9.
“We played well,” senior middle blocker Jennifer Rousey said. “We just made a lot of mistakes, and we made them all in a row.
“We’re ahead, we’re winning, and then we just fall apart, and I don’t know why. We are all struggling (with this). The coaches and players are equally frustrated.”
The team has lost two five-game matches this season.
“We played with a lot of heart (Wednesday night),” said head coach Brenda Bowlin.
“We played as well as we’ve played all year, we just came up short at the end. This was a great opportunity to open the SEC with a win, but we just let it slip out of our hands.”
Bowlin says the problem is more mental than anything else. “We’re just in a mental struggle,” Bowlin said. “We just need to continue to work hard and play well, and eventually, we’re going to win some matches.”
One major note to Wednesday’s game was that Jennifer Rousey played in through the game with a torn lateral and medial meniscus and will be having surgery today. “She showed a lot of guts,” Bowlin said of her co-captain.
“That kid has a lot of courage to play through an injury like that.”
Bowlin says that, with proper care, the surgery should only keep Rousey out for about two weeks.
The team must now look ahead to this weekend’s road matchup with Tennessee Sunday at 2 p.m.