Bulldog senior Misty Hubenthal piled up 45 kills Saturday to lead Mississippi State to a sweep of North Texas and Air Force on the final day of the season-opening CenturyTel/Roger Beasley Honda Premier Tournament at Southwest Texas State. MSU bested North Texas 3-1 (30-14, 30-28, 23-30, 30-25) and blanked Air Force 3-0 (30-23, 30-28, 30-26) to earn a split of the four weekend tournament matches. Hubenthal sizzled on offense, hit at a .490 clip and totaling 24 kills while not committing an error in MSU’s 3-1 win over North Texas. The Bulldog captain added 11 digs to earn her second double-double of the weekend. She also registered a team-high 11 kills in the shutout win over Air Force.
“I see a lot of potential on this team,” said Bulldog coach Brenda Bowlin, “probably as much as I’ve seen in my six years at Mississippi State. Our serve-receive passing is greatly improved, and that will give us a chance to be more productive on offense.”
Bowlin had praise for Hubenthal and junior middle blocker Jennifer Rousey.
“They stepped up their play this weekend and it helped raise our overall level of play. The challenge now will be to build on this first weekend and develop consistency over the long haul.”
Rousey had nine kills and three block assists against UNT and did not commit an error on an eight-kill outing against Air Force.
MSU’s other junior middle blocker, Hilary Chambers, totaled 10 kills and five total blocks and junior opposite hitter Nicole Broome carded a career-high 10 kills and hit .474 against North Texas.
Junior setter had a career-high and match-leading 15 digs in the win over North Texas while freshman Rachel Cooper and junior Libero Lauren Bounds had 11 digs each to share match honors against Air Force. Bounds’ 13 digs against North Texas was a career-high.
The Bulldogs make their home debut next weekend, playing host to Boston College, Lamar University and Samford in the third annual MSU/Ramada Inn Classic. State meets Samford Friday at 7:30 p.m. in its tournament-opener in Humphrey Coliseum.