The Bulldogs of Mississippi State University returned home for SEC volleyball action this weekend to take on SEC East foes, Tennessee and Kentucky. The weekend series was the beginning of a six-match home streak for the Bulldogs that will conclude at 7 p.m. Nov. 8 against in-state rival Mississippi.
Sunday, the Bulldogs played host to the Kentucky Wildcats, who came into Newell-Grissom with an overall record of 11-19. The Wildcats were led by senior April Barnhorst, who was perfect hitting in the first two games and finished the match with a career high .833 hitting percentage. Kentucky swept the match 30-25, 30-21 and 30-21.
MSU jumped out to an early 7-4 lead on Kentucky and rebuilt the lead to 15-12, before the Wildcats made an 8-1 run from which State did not seem to recover. The Bulldogs had plenty of miscues against the Wildcats. MSU had nine serving errors versus Kentucky. Sophomore Tanika Taylor led the Bulldogs in kills with eight, and sophomore Jennifer Rousey finished with seven. MSU finished the day with a .167 hitting percentage against UK.
Friday saw the Bulldogs open the weekend against the University of Tennessee Lady Vols. MSU scored on the first serve of the game and played back and forth with UT, but the Lady Vols pushed out to a 24-14 lead in game one that they would not lose. Tennessee held on to take a 30-23 win.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 7-0 lead in game two led by senior Katie Carraro. Carraro had three service aces in the seven-point run, but Tennessee kept coming back. The game tied at 28, then again at 29 and 30 before the Lady Vols pushed ahead to win the match 32-30.
Game three saw, once again, a back and forth performance that UT took control of on a 7-0 run that clinched the game and the match 30-20.
“We’re disappointed that we weren’t able to find a way to finish the second game, but we’re also encouraged at the way we competed tonight against a good Tennessee team,” Bulldog head coach Brenda Bowlin said. “We played with more intensity and aggressiveness tonight than we have in recent weeks.”
Junior Misty Hubenthal had a match-leading 19 kills on a season best .421 hitting percentage. Ariana Wilson paced the Lady Vols in kills with 18 on the night.
Mississippi State will return to action at 7 p.m. in the Newell-Grissom Building against the University of Alabama-Birmingham Blazers in the Bulldogs final non-conference game of the regular season.