In a productive learning experience, the Mississippi State Lady Bulldog volleyball team took second place in the MSU/Microtel Classic over the weekend with a 2-1 record.
State defeated Eastern Kentucky 3-0 Friday night and Louisiana Tech 3-2 Saturday morning before falling to tournament champion Memphis 3-1 Saturday evening.
“All the teams were pretty well matched-up because there were a lot of five-gamers,” Seals said. “It’s disappointing to come in behind Memphis, but they just had the better team this last match.”
The tournament allowed first year head coach Tina Seals an opportunity to learn more about her team–which players will work best at which spots and how the team will respond when challenged.
“As the season goes along, we are learning more about the players because it’s basically a new team and a new coaching staff,” Seals said. “Right now, we’re just learning who can play what positions. We’ve noticed we can put some people here and there and it’s been beneficial.”
Junior outside hitter Rachel Cooper and libero Ashley Sledge represented the Lady Dawgs on the all-tournament team.
“It’s always exciting, but you can never do anything like this without your team,” Cooper explained. “I can’t hit the ball if we don’t get a good pass or a good set.”
“I was happy because I had never made it before,” Sledge said. “As a defensive player that only plays back row, that’s awesome. So I feel really good, and Cooper did awesome this week.”
The tournament also marked Seals’ Starkville-coaching debut.
“This is where I played, so to start off our home season in The Hump was pretty neat,” she said. “It just feels great to be back at Mississippi State.”
Friday, Sept. 17: MSU 3, EKU 0
After consecutive weeks on the road, State sizzled in its home opener against the Colonels.
The Lady Dawgs winning recipe of 51 kills, 11 aces, 54 digs and seven-and-a-half team blocks would have impressed Colonel Sanders.
MSU registered its best hitting performance of the season, out-hitting EKU .312 to .192 for the match. Junior outside hitter Rachel Cooper led the Bulldog attack with 15 kills and freshman middle blocker Erin Seago added 11 on a .474 performance.
“My hitting comes off the setting, which comes off the passing,” Cooper explained. “Our passing was awesome tonight, so that definitely helped us.”
Serving with authority paid dividends for State. The Lady Dawgs out-aced Eastern Kentucky 11-2.
“Serving is key. That’s been our main focus in practice the past month,” Cooper said. “Aggressive serves can really throw off a team’s passing. That’s our main thing–serve aggressive and throw opponents out of their offense.”
Saturday, Sept. 18: MSU 3, Louisiana Tech 2
State hit the snooze bar Saturday morning against Louisiana Tech and lost the opening game 30-16. The Lady Dawgs woke up in game two and edged the Lady Techsters 32-30.
“We played really well the night before and sometimes it’s hard to get focused the next morning, and it took us a whole game to get focused,” Seals said. “That’s an area we need to work on.”
Cooper, who tallied a match-high 21 kills, said the coaching staff remained calm during State’s game one miscues.
“Coach was positive all the way through even though we were down and making mistakes,” Cooper said.
State stormed to a 2-1 lead with a 30-19 in game three, holding Tech to an abysmal .071
attack.
Louisiana Tech fought back and evened the match at two by claiming game four, despite being out-hit, out-dug and out-blocked.
Junior Orshi Kriegel and freshman Megan Lukasek each tallied 17 digs for the Lady Dawgs.
State turned the tables by taking game five 18-16 even though Tech recorded more blocks and a better attack percentage.
“We would get down, and then fight and come back. I don’t think we ever gave up,” Sledge said. “That’s one thing we lacked last year–we always let ’em run over us. But we kept pushing until the end.”
Championship: Memphis 3, MSU 1
Despite four double-digit dig performances from the Lady Dawgs, the Memphis Tigers had four players reach double digits in kills.
All-tournament team selection Nancy Nellans tallied a match-high 19 kills and 19 digs. Freshman Ashley Liford followed with 16 kills and Fehi Tuivai and Tiara Gilkey finished with 11 and 10.
Gilkey also recorded 18 digs and notched a spot on the all-tourney team.
Memphis pounced early in the match and out-hit State .484 to .139 in game one.
State responded with a 16-kill, .333 outing in game two but Memphis edged the Lady Dawgs 30-26.
State fought to stay alive and reversed the game two score in game three
“I thought we fought harder because we were in our home gym,” said freshman Jamie Joyner.
In game four, Tuivai and Liford each recorded six kills to bolster the Tiger attack.
Memphis recorded 20 kills and three aces in the 30-19 victory that secured the championship.