An endless team effort helped push Mississippi State volleyball (6-19, 2-12 SEC) over the top for a win in Friday’s match against South Carolina (12-11, 4-10 SEC), winning three of four sets (25-22, 24-26, 25-21, 25-17). However, Sunday’s match proved to be a tough loss as the Bulldogs dropped in three sets (25-23, 27-25, 25-22) to No. 10 Florida (18-3, 12-2 SEC).
The win against South Carolina gives MSU and first-year head coach Jenny Hazelwood their second SEC win on the season and first at home after defeating Ole Miss on Oct. 9th in Oxford.
“I think we finally put together a consistent match, and we’ve seen glimpses of this all season long against some really good teams and just in the end not finding ways to put it away,” Hazelwood said.
The victory was highlighted by junior middle blocker Ashley Newsome with a career-high 22-kill performance, previously set at 19 earlier this season.
“Ashley was definitely in the zone tonight and she’s someone that we know has the capability to take over a match,” Hazelwood said. “It takes everybody doing their part for ashley to have the ability to do that.”
Assistant coach Branden Higa said the team has learned to be scrappy and play tough, allowing for more ease of play.
“We’ve been pushing them very hard all season and now we’re finally starting to see some rewards of that,” he said “Good play is infectious and good play is fun.”
The Bulldogs’ offensive attack was set up by senior setter Dorey Gray who also had a career night with 43 assists. Gray added 14 digs, giving her a double-double, her third of the season.
Hazelwood credited Gray with being the quarterback of the offensive attack in helping spread the ball to a variety of hitters.
“Dorey did a great job running the offense,” she said. “I didn’t even have to say anything to her.”
Gray’s efficiency in spreading out passes allowed the Bulldogs to have a balanced attack en route to a 59-kill performance and a .262 hitting percentage. Sophomore outside hitter Caitlin Rance finished second on the team with 13 kills.
Defensively, four Bulldogs posted double-digit dig performances as junior libero Kayla Woodard led the team with 18.
“Tonight we were digging up balls that last weekend we were not digging,” Hazelwood said. “South Carolina is the best defensive team in our conference, and we weren’t that far behind them in digs.”
Florida posed a stronger test with 18-consecutive SEC champs and a No. 10 national ranking to their title.
The match proved to be an offensive showing for both teams as all three sets were decided by three points or fewer.
MSU matched Florida’s intensity in the first set as neither team led by more than two points and both finished with 19 kills.
The second set witnessed a 23-17 Bulldog lead before hitting, with service errors proving to be the Bulldogs’ downfall as Florida mounted a comeback to take the set. MSU never led in the third, but the Bulldogs stayed in contention throughout.
“I think that we’ve grown this season and it’s another thing that we’ll learn from,” Hazelwood said. “When you have a team like that, that is struggling a bit offensively, take advantage of it.”
Assistant coach Lindi Bankowski believes the Bulldogs’ performance in the match was due to the time and effort the team has put in during practice to become better and also shows that the team is ready to win.
“It’s frustrating that you’re so close and we should’ve won that second set but to play that close with Florida shows the girls have come a long way,” she said.
Rance’s eight kills in the match put her over the 200 mark for the season. Woodard led the match in digs with 23 and Gray posted her fourth double-double of the season with 30 assists and 14 digs.