The Mississippi State volleyball team opened up SEC play last weekend with two solid performances. One ended in a loss to No. 7 Florida whereas the other ended in victory for the Bulldogs with a five-set win over South Carolina.
The Bulldogs did not make things easy for themselves by hosting Florida to kick off SEC play. However, despite the three-set loss, the girls played tough and fought hard the whole match. The third game almost went the Bulldogs’ way, but they fell 26-24.
The Gators boasted five 6’2 players and three stood at 6’1. First-team All-American and 2010 SEC Player of the Year Kelly Murphy finished with a triple-double having 10 kills, 19 assists and 11 digs.
Despite the loss, State saw solid performances from its two big hitters, senior Caitlin Rance and freshman Lainey Wyman. Both girls finished with 10 kills on the night. Head coach Jenny Hazelwood said Rance and Wyman were phenomenal.
“Lainey Wyman has been solid, but she definitely seemed to take it to another level,” Hazelwood said. “Caitlin is just really impressive and a fire out there; she gets really driven and motivates her team.”
The girls made more mistakes at the end of each set than they did throughout the majority of each set, which cost them a lot. Since they brought most of these mistakes upon themselves, Rance is confident practice will improve these problem areas.
“We realized that we played with them, and we know there are things we can fix,” Rance said. “We just broke down, our passing broke down and we couldn’t put a ball away.”
With one SEC match under its belt, State was ready for the Gamecocks, who had not yet played a conference match. The first two games were all Bulldogs as they beat South Carolina 25-16 and 25-17. However, the Gamecocks did not go away quietly but rallied to win the next two sets 25-23, 25-23.
Sophomore setter Paris Perret, who recorded a double-double with 50 assists and 19 digs, said the girls were overconfident after winning the first two sets easily.
“We thought we had it in the bag early after taking them away in the first few sets,” Perret said. “I know we felt overconfident in the third set and weren’t as clean and determined as we should’ve been.”
The fifth game was anyone’s set, but MSU took care of business winning 15-8. Fittingly, Rance and Wyman ended the game on a double block as they again carried the team at the net finishing with 17 and 16 kills, respectively. Senior Hannah Wilkinson also had double-digit kills with 13, and she added two solo blocks and four block assists.
But the blocking was not always stable for the Dogs. Wilkinson said the team scouted South Carolina and should have blocked them more.
“Our blocking was a little sketchy today,” Wilkinson said. “Their middles shouldn’t have had that many kills on us; we’re good enough blockers that we should be on top of that stuff and be able to make adjustments.”
Adjustments were what gave the Gamecocks life as they came back from the break with a different lineup that confused the Dogs. State struggled to counter the changes made by USC, which showed in the girls’ performance.
Ultimately, the girls got the win, which is what really matters. Hazelwood said the win is a confidence booster for State.
“I think it showed that we can beat good teams,” Hazelwood said. “It gave the girls a lot of confidence not only to beat a good team but to bounce back after a couple tough sets; I think it will really help carry momentum into our practices this week and our matches next week.”
Defensively, State out-dug South Carolina, who leads the SEC in digs, 78-74. Freshman libero Bentley Witte led the team with 19 digs. She also led the team with 13 digs against Florida.
The volleyball team will play its next four matches on the road against SEC West foes Arkansas, LSU, Alabama and Ole Miss.